Norfolk Adventure by John Berry Yesterday I took my client, Greg, on his first visit on the Norfork River. Greg had taken a fly-fishing class from my brother, Dan, and me ten years ago but hasn’t fished much since then. We arrived at the river a little after eight AM and quickly donned our waders and waded far from the access to one of my favorite spots. There was only one other person that we encountered on our way in. It was a fellow guide, George Peters. He told us that he had just caught and released a nice eighteen inch rainbow. We settled in and began fishing a variety of small nymphs. The going was incredibly slow. At ten thirty we had only caught one small rainbow. It was taking Greg a little time to get the hang of high sticking nymphs and we had missed a few fish. We decided to try a different spot. We waded to a short but very deep run nearby. I took the time to carefully rerig. I tied on a new eighteen inch 6X tippet and a size eight worm brown San Juan worm. I set the strike indicator for the depth of the water and I checked the lead wrapped around the leader just above the knot securing the tippet to the leader to be sure that it was snug. I showed Greg where to place the fly. He made the perfect cast and the strike indicator drifted about two feet and before it went down like the Titanic. He set the hook and all we heard was the reel screaming. The fish made a short violent run and rolled on the top. We both gasped! It was a huge male rainbow in full spawning color. Where it would normally have a pink stripe it was deep beet red. He had a pronounced kype that was rubbed raw from digging redds with his chin. I reminded Greg that he was fishing 6X tippet and to play the fish on the reel. After a spirited fight we finally landed the rainbow. He measured just over twenty four inches. We decided to give the run another go and cast the worm back into the water. This time it drifted three feet and disappeared into the depths of the hole. Greg deftly set the hook and was rewarded with the sound of the reel screaming again. This fish ran further and fought harder than the previous rainbow. After what seemed like an eternity, I was finally able to net the beast. It was a fine twenty inch cutthroat. We fished the run a bit longer and pulled a rainbow and a wild brown out but nothing like the fish we caught earlier. I looked down stream and noted that George had moved out. He had been in my favorite spot to fish dry flies. I gathered up Greg and we walked over to the run. We tried hoppers and some small dries. We had a few refusals but no takers. After about thirty minutes, we decided to go back to our original spot and see if we could make some thing happen. We got into position and were immediately into a nice fish. We landed it and several others. It was happening! About noon, I started thinking food. About this time Greg hooked a big one. This trout was having his way with us. We waded into quieter water so that it would be easier to land him there. He made one long run after another. We finally saw him and realized that we had hooked a really nice Cutthroat. He was substantially bigger than the first and had a much larger girth. After a spirited fight, we finally landed him and he measured a righteous twenty two inches. We decided to fish through lunch and stay there until the water came up even if it took a couple of days. About two PM, I noticed a change in the sound of the water. It was coming up. Greg cranked his line in and we walked back to the access. It came up fast. I set up lunch and we sat down for the first time that day. It was nice to relax and talk about the successes of the day. We loaded up into the car when we finished and drove over to the White River to fish at Rim Shoals. We caught fish but it was nothing like the action on the Norfork that day. Hatches Magazine Subscription Price: $6.95 for each issue The Premiere issue is ready for shipping & the Fall 2008 issue will be available September 1st.