I Am New

[joshgray]

i am going down to the river for the first time i was wanting a few hints if anybody can help me out i will be going the first week of september staying at the river of life any help would be great

[2sheds]

ROL is a beautiful spot to enjoy this river.

If you want to catch the most fish and really learn how to make best success on the Northfork, you should book a guide trip with Brian Wise (works from ROL) or Kyle or Justin.

If you want to do it on your own, be advised that these are wild rainbows (all the way downstream to Patrick Bridge) and that the level of challenge will be a couple of notches above the trout park experience. For spin fishing, I like the #2 Blue Fox spinners and the hard plastic rebel crawdad. For fly fishing, I like nymphing - Don's Crawdad, white or olive jig, stonefly, prince nymph, etc. Chose good spots, run deep, avoid drag to keep a good presentation. There is good info to digest on the ROL website and also excellent advise in prior posts to this forum.

[Chris Gates]

ROLF is a nice place but can get expensive. If you want to do it on the cheap and have a great experience check out Sunburst Ranch. Justin there will set you up with the bugs you want. Nymphing is the main staple for numbers on this river. Medium to Large Thingamabobber, 3X to the point fly and 4X to the dropper. Flourocarbon especially when water is low and clear as it is now. Pats Rubberlegs in Size 4 to 8 with a caddis pupa dropper, pheasant tail, bloody mary, possibly a red fox squirrel. North Fork is best fished from a boat but is also nice out of a canoe. A canoe will work fine to get from riffle to riffle in the lower water that you are looking at. Don't go down there and think you are going to wade around without the help of some kind of watercraft, you'll be disappointed. PM me if you want more details I fish there as often as I can. Hope this helps. I love the NFOW!

[Brian Wise]

Welcome! You are going to have a great time!

Like Chris said, make sure you float as often as possible. Kelly to Patrick is the best now and that is the float around the ROLF area. Fish deep, and fish hard...it'll happen.

Brian

[Justin Spencer]

Big stones (wiggle dub, pat's rubberlegs) and princes right now! Caught 12 fish today in about an hour and a half all in slippery riffle, nothing big but lost one that "felt" like a 20"+, I could move him some, but he didn't want to go far. just came unbuttoned after about a minute. If you need some flies come visit the fly shop here at Sunburst while you are down, I have the same flies that worked today, they may not be the prettiest but they work. Fishing should continue to improve on into the fall and it looks like it could be a good one.

[Arofishing]

  On 8/23/2011 at 1:38 AM, Justin Spencer said:

Big stones (wiggle dub, pat's rubberlegs) and princes right now! Caught 12 fish today in about an hour and a half all in slippery riffle, nothing big but lost one that "felt" like a 20"+, I could move him some, but he didn't want to go far. just came unbuttoned after about a minute. If you need some flies come visit the fly shop here at Sunburst while you are down, I have the same flies that worked today, they may not be the prettiest but they work. Fishing should continue to improve on into the fall and it looks like it could be a good one.

Oh that is so awesome to hear! I'll be staying with you guys Sunday night for the first time, my second trip to the NFoW, the first being to RoL early in July.

I only caught two trout my first trip, but I literally had just begun fly fishing (had to get Myron at ROL to help me with some knots ). I'm hoping with a months experience under my belt, a new rod and reel, and three times the amount of flies this time will be better.

How did the Musky trip go you guys, did I miss a report somewhere?

[Justin Spencer]

  Quote

(had to get Myron at ROL to help me with some knots ).

funny

Look forward to seeing you, I'll try to leave the fish alone so they are ready to bite when you get here. Catching 2 trout your first trip is a good start on this river, plenty of "seasoned" trout fishermen get skunked here because they won't listen to how it is done on this river and they think they know best.

I think the musky boy's arms are too sore to type for a while after throwing those big streamers all week.

[Brian Wise]

I had to stretch before I typed this.....and the trip was almost a week ago. :-) The trip was awesome...no musky though. We 'did' hook a 150lb "something" though. Video and reports to follow, video will be a while.

Brian