FISHING REPORT 11/7/2006

[John Berry]

My client told me that he wanted to land a twenty inch fish. I took him to the handicap access and walked up into the Catch and Release area. We fished a half day (morning) and we caught twenty trout. The biggest was a twenty two and a half inch male brown. The hot fly was a copper midge size eighteen. We also took several on a small brown worm. Most of the fish were sixteen inches or better. We only landed a couple of dinks. That far down stream we didn't notice the sulphur odor that was present at the dam and I believe the disolved oxygen was a bit higher. We took special pains to land fish quickly and not to remove them from the water in order not to stress them.

[Terry Beeson]

John,

How was the sediment situation at that point on the river? Do you think Overlook has affected the fishing there? I just wondered with what is going on with the sediment and DO of the Norfork why you chose it instead of the White. Just curious...

[John Berry]

There is some sediment there but it is not as bad as up stream. The disolved oxygen is better down stream because the water goes over riffles and picks up oxygen as it goes down stream. I chose the Norfork because my client wanted to catch big fish and I consistently catch my big fish there. I think that the Overlook Estates debacle has had a negative impact on fishing on the Norfork. If we get the slightest rain the river muddies up quickly. The sedimentation problem is much worse up stream where the Brown trout are trying to spawn. Will the sediment choke out the eggs and spoil the spawn? I don't see how it can help.

[Terry Beeson]

Thanks for the info, John...

Glad the Norfork is still producing bigguns there... Now if I can just get down there and fish...

[Crippled Caddis]

Unquestionably! Anyone who has ever had anything to do with stocking eggs in the Whitlock/Vibert boxes knows from experience that siltation is a death-knell for eggs. It prevents absorbtion of DO and harbors micro-organisms that love eggs. Clean, cold, highly oxygenated water are critical to preserving a micro-environment conducive to hatching success.

It does exactly the same thing to reproduction of the invertibrates at the base of the food chain as well. I think people have failed to understand just how bad the Overlooked Mistakes debacle is from this aspect alone. It is a fiasco of currently unguessable proportions that will haunt the future of the river far longer than I care to consider.