looking for a guide

[Pedre]

i will be going up to the norfork march 10-14 and possibly looking for a guide. I am new to this forum and everyone has been so helpful, so I was wondering if anyone does any guideing or would know a direction to point me. Thanks for all the previous help. Much appreciated.

Thanks again,

Pedro

[Terry Beeson]

John Berry... or as we like to call him... "Mr Norfork"....

Several others come to mind as well.... Davy Wotton, John Wilson... Dang... did I forget anyone? But I bet JB will chime in here on this one...

[Phil Lilley]

I have not fished with any other guide other than Gabe Cross or John Berry. I would recommend John just because he's a major contributor on this forum and the fact I've fished with him.

[Kicknbass]

I would highly recommend John Berry. I hired him to fish a couple of fridays ago. He worked hard all day to accomodate the style of fishing that we wanted. We caught fish, and I learned several new methods to put in my bag of trout fishing tricks. We fished till after dark and would have stayed longer if we could see.

John gets my vote.

[snagged in outlet 3]

Stick with John, you'll be very happy.

SIO3.

[Gavin]

John Gulley is really good too. Cheers.

[Mark]

Unless you are a first time trout fisherman, I really don't think you need a guide on the Norfolk Tailwaters or White River to catch fish. It is virually impossible to NOT catch fish there - they stock them by the millions.

[RiverRunner]

"Unless you are a first time trout fisherman, I really don't think you need a guide on the Norfolk Tailwaters or White River to catch fish. It is virually impossible to NOT catch fish there - they stock them by the millions."

I would have to disagree with that statement somewhat. It is true that the White River system recieves a lot of stocked fish, but I would recommend any first time fisherman to these rivers to hire a guide for a several reasons.

Safety: In a high water situation like we are experencing (& likely to have for a while) you need to fish from a boat. The White and especially the Norfork can be extremely dangerous when the generators are running. I have been running a boat on the Norfork for 10 years and it still scares me at times. There have been numerous drownings from boating accidents on these rivers. I have seen firsthand what inexperience and 8 units can do, and its not pretty.

Learning Curve: Even bait fishing can get tough on high water if you don't know the layout of the river bottom. Fly-Fishing at high water can be challenging at best. If you are putting together a trip and driving from a long-distance, you will make better use of your time and money spending a day with a guide learning the basics of the river.

I would stress that a first time angler to these waters could do much better without a guide in low-water conditions than in high water. At low-water, fishing (esp. fly fishing) is much less complicated. Still, if you can, I would reccomend any first time White & Norfork angler to hire a guide for at least a day. Both John Berry (who frequently posts on this forum with excellent reports and advice) and John Gulley would be good choices (Gulley is highly recommended as a high water expert by many fishermen I know).

[Terry Beeson]

I totally agree, RR.

The first time I fished the Norfork, I had a guide. He was a friend who invited me to go fishing with him and knew the river well. Boy was I ever glad for two reasons. First, I was picking spots that held no fish and he would guide me to a spot that did hold fish. Second, he noticed the river coming up and got us out of there. I was very much a novice to tailwater fishing at that time, but learned a valuable lesson very quickly.

Another time, a friend was on his way back home from Mt Home and commented he might stop by the Norfork on his way to do some fishing. A well-known guide we were talking to at the time gave him directions and fly selections. He emailed me a couple of pics the next day of two of the big browns he caught in the two hours he got to fish.

Stocking of the Norfork tailwaters is around 140,000 trout total for the year. That's less than one trout per fishing trip (survey estimates 190,000 fishing trips to the Norfork tailwaters per year.)

On occasion, fishing the Norfork is relatively "easy" as far as catching fish. Now, Pedre did not mention if he was fly fishing or using powerbait. That may makd some difference. But chances are you are not going to be "shooting them in a barrel" with either method....

[Mark]

I guess we've just been lucky. A large group of us (9-10 guys) have made only 2 trips to the area - first one to Calico Rock and second trip to where Norfolk Tailwaters and White River meet (Great accommodations at Norfolk trout dock for large groups). Both trips we basically slaughtered 'em, and were totally unfamiliar to either area. Planniing our third trip to area in early April.