Report 7-29

[JamiePatterson]

Headed to Marion county for a little needed down time with the gentleman who works for me on the farm. He's a great friend and I try to take him to the river every now and then. That "all work and no play" thing... Any way, lol...

It's been years since I fished norfork at low water. Had a bad encounter there once, so its been hard to get past the bad taste left in my mouth from that trip. This experience was so much better. Everyone, waders and boaters, we're friendly and we all exchanged small talk as we passed. A nice exchange of conversation was had with most everyone in the river -all of us there to have fun and enjoy the beautiful setting.

We put in at norfork to low water. Threw a 1/32 jig and worked our way down river. Conditions were tough, but managed to catch nice, football fat, female brown. Pic to follow. Didn't measure her, in fact I hardly ever measure or net a fish -would rather get em back in the water fast. I'm guessing her in the 7lb range but who knows, doesn't really matter because she made my day lol. Water started working up to 2 full units after about 45 min of min flow. Caught a few fish on the rise, but not a lot after. Decided to pull out around 1pm and head to the white. The flow was a bit much for a niche jig fisherman and the white had 3 on. Total at norfork, 20 fish.

Put in on the private ramp at wildcat and had a great drift. The flippin side of the river was holding lots of fish and they were loving any 1/16oz jig. First drift netted me 20fish. Our second run down wildcat was't as productive -2additional units hit (4-5 is my favorite water) and the bite slowed a bit. We changed back and forth from 1/16 to 1/8 jigs as the conditions dictated. Working banks, we managed to catch several fish, but never had the hot bite our first pass produced. I wanted to see more river so we ran up to the dam in the early afternoon. As we arrived at the dam the flow started to diminish to 3 units. The fish loved this slower flow and we proceeded to catch 60 or so in a shirt time. Followed this water down stream and found it to. E super productive. Ended up catching 2 more dandy browns -great river fish with way more color than the first female I hooked at norfork. We had several browns in the 17 range too. The river seems to be getting so much better since the min flow change. It's always been good, but after one year I swear I can see a change. My friend said the same. He sees the river every six months or so and said there seems to be a marked improvement in the health of the fish. Total for the day, 129 trout, 2 largemouth- go figure lol. My friend caught 25 of our fish... 1/16 oz jigs far out caught heavier tackle and 2lb test was the rule -actually all I ever fish anymore. When I get to a computer I'll post big fish pics -unless someone can help a low tech farmer do it over a phone

[Quillback]

That's a heckuva day, congrats!

[JamiePatterson]

[Quillback]

Nice fish!

[Greasy B]

Wow what a day. We don't hear much good news about fisheries these days, thanks

[Ham]

Great Trip! I'm pretty sure that I've never caught a 7 pound trout, but I don'e weight them and rarely measure them. DId you get a length? Great fish regardless and sounds like a heck of a day. And all on 2 lb line. The bass fisherman in me doesn't allow me to use 2 lb line.

[sfiser]

that first pic is a rainbow. Absolute giant too. Was that your norfork fish?

[Terrierman]

Hell of a day man. Good thing you posted a pic or there's a certain guy on here who would want proof of a day like that. But I've been there, done that (not with that size of fish!) and know it can be the real deal when it is on. Again, congratulations.

[ARHeadhunters]

That rainbow is a stud. Nice fish.

[SmallyWally]

Nice job there Mr. Patterson.