Fall Hoppers by John Berry It was a very busy summer for my wife, Lori and me. I had been very busy guiding and Lori had been involved with a complex consulting assignment. In addition, it had been beastly hot. We had a period of 100 degree plus days that took the fun out of being on the water. As a result, we had not done much fishing together in some time. We decided to leave the house early and fish the Norfork. Now the idea of getting Lori up and on the road before noon is radical. We live in different time zones. I wake up at 5:30 AM everyday and am in bed at 10:00 PM while she stays up past midnight and sleeps much later than I do if she is not working. The lure of catching trophy trout finally won out. We left the house about 7:00 AM with only a brief stop at McDonalds for a quick breakfast. We got on the water before eight and walked far upstream. We were the only ones there. Lori began fishing a size 22 Dan's turkey quill emerger (my brother, Dan's most productive creation). She was almost immediately into a good fish. Before I was fully rigged up she had landed the fat, eighteen inch rainbow. I fished a nymph nearby but there were no takers. Lori landed a fifteen inch rainbow and the fishing seemed to slow down. We decided to wade up to our favorite spot. On the way, I peeled off to fish a hole that had been particularly productive in the past. From where I was fishing, I could clearly see Lori. I nymphed the spot relentlessly and was only able to raise a five inch rainbow in the process. About this time, I looked up and noticed that Lori's Winston rod was bent over nearly double. She was carefully working her way into quiet water in order to land the big fish. I quickly cranked up my line and hustled over to where she was battling the trout. The rainbow was fighting for his life. He made one powerful run after another. Lori was totally absorbed by the process. She carefully applied the maximum pressure that the 5X tippet would allow. He finally gave up the struggle and surrendered to my net. It was a fat, beautiful twenty one inch rainbow. I quickly took several photos of Lori and the Bow and then she lovingly released the trout. I got in a run near to where she was fishing and finally managed to catch an eighteen inch rainbow. I was glad to see it because Lori had caught two really good fish and was now back in her run and was picking up one nice trout after another. She finally cleaned out the run and we decided to fish our way out to the access. I walked down to a likely spot. As I approached, I saw a twenty inch cutthroat calmly swim away from the bank and enter a current seam. I removed the strike indicator, lead, nymph and 6X tippet. I then tied on a four foot section of 4X tippet and a large Dave's Hopper. I applied a small quantity of fly floatant and false cast to dry the fly. I figured the cutt would be spooked so I carefully scanned the run and located a fat fifteen inch rainbow. I cast a couple of feet above him and watched the hopper drift down toward his position. Suddenly the Cutt raced five feet across the current and nailed the fly. I set the hook and the struggle was on. The fight ended much too soon. With the 4X tippet and large hook, I was able to put a lot of pressure on the trout and had him in the net quickly. I continued fishing the hopper in the run and really enjoyed myself. I caught one fish after another. They were hitting the hopper like it was trout candy. I had gotten off to a slow start but I quickly redeemed myself. Meanwhile, Lori was fishing nearby. She had rerigged and had returned to using Dan's turkey quill emerger. She was on a tear. She caught one good trout after another. The fishing was nonstop for both of us. After a couple of hours there was a lull in the fishing. I looked at my watch and noticed that it was after two o'clock. We had fished through lunch and I was suddenly famished. We cranked up our lines and walked out. As we drove home, we talked about how good a life we have. Being able to have fishing like this so close to home! John Berry is a fly fishing guide in Cotter, Arkansas and can be contacted at http://www.berrybrothersguides.com/ . 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. 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.