Norfork at the time of writing is having good low water periods.

More or less we have seen the end of the major caddis emergence all be it there will still be days there will be a hatch of some kind. We typically look forward this month to the mayfly hatches of sulphurs and PMDs, given the right climatic conditions for the day.

No doubt at all that chironomids are a very important food base for the fish both White and Norfork rivers, particularly so when we see low water conditions, saying that during times when we see higher water flows larger imitations of midge pupa can be deadly. Do not assume just because the naturals are mainly in the size 18 to 26 that flies in the order of 12 to 16 will not entice fish as they moat certainly will.

White tail and Prism midges in black, red and claret are the order of the day here.

More or less if you are out there and the water is clean and clear and generations are moderate then midges are a good bet. Very high water is another matter.

Here we have to use longer leaders, add weight and use larger flies such as dynamite and San Juan worms indicator style, eggs may be another choice for some.

If there is any great advantage we have to day it is the tungsten bead for our midge and general nymph patterns, in many cases due to bead weight, which is around 40% greater than lead you do not need to add lead to get the fly down, provided you use a longer leader of continues fine diameter such as 4/5x and in some cases 6x

Techniques along these lines have been a winner at Bull Shoals Dam trophy zone and resulted in many trophy size Bows in the 20 to 24 ins size, same also for lower sections of the river when water conditions have been good.

The warmer conditions as of now are also very conducive to dry fly, wet fly and soft hackle fishing as fish will readily rise to the surface to take flies fished in the upper levels, always worth fishing dries, you never know, and it is great fun to take fish from the surface at any time.

This time of the year changes the habits of the Brown trout. Longer days of light change the way the food base is active and that also relates to the prime time Brown trout choose to feed.

Crustaceans such as Sows, Scuds and Crayfish are way more active during conditions of diminished light and during the night time periods, hence the reason why the Browns at such times also become active.

That is not to say working streamers to shorelines and around structure cannot pull a few good fish as it may well do, my choices here are to fish early dawn periods and late evenings for best results providing we do not see a heavy blanket fog over the river.

Outside of trophy zones it often pays to double up with you fly choices, combinations of nymph and soft hackle can be killer for dead drift with or without indicators, fishing two soft hackles also dead drift can be the choice, particularly when the trout are prepared to rise to the surface.

Likewise dry dropper can be a great option for lower water flows and casting closer to shorelines when we see higher water levels out there.

As a matter of interest here one of the suggestions from the AGFC for next year is to change the one fly rule in the trophy zones and do away with the one fly barbless hook rule, all be it the majority of fly fishers do use barbless hooks.

I would like to see this come into effect.

OK, guys all being well water flows will be good and we should see some great fishing this coming month.

Flies to carry will include. small midges 18 to 24 for low water, white tail and prism midges, 12/14/16, generic nymphs such as Hares ear, Pheasant tails, sows, scuds 12/14/16s , dynamite and San Juan worms. A range of dries to include Elk hair caddis, BWO, Sulphurs, Ants. Soft hackles assorted and a range of streamers and muddlers.

If we see any significant changes l will add further for this month forecast.

What's New
The recent meetings held at the USFW offices in DC brought together members of Friends groups from around the country that support the USFW Fisheries divisions. I was one of those invited to attend as the representative President of the Norfork National Fish Hatchery.

The purpose of the meeting was to establish a National Fisheries Friends Partnership that further supports to the Fisheries divisions of the USFW, and be able to legislate on behalf of the fisheries at the highest level in Congress and at State level.

Our fisheries divisions which amount to 79 stations around the country which include hatcheries, research centers and those that deal with endangered species have largely been at the bottom of the list so far as funding, while refugees have benefited, mainly because they have strong representation.

I am happy to report that l was elected as the Chairman to spearhead this new organization.

Euro Nymph Fishing techniques and classes.

No doubt there is a great interest for many to learn the nymph fishing techniques perfected in the EU, some of those known as Czech, Polish, French and Spanish, all be it the former two are similar and so are the latter two.

Many of the concepts have come into being due to the fact that competitive fly fishing events across the pond are very popular both at local, National and International levels. The use of floating indicators are not allowed, there for other means of take detection are used when dead drift techniques are being fished, mainly with nymphs.

No question of doubt that they are very effective methods to catch fish, as l myself fished competitive events for some 18 years of my life and fished these techniques to great effect. They are also methods that pretty much allow for a fly to be fished at the same pace as the downstream flow rate and present the fly or flies used in a very efficient manner.

The techniques also differ in so far as how the leader systems are set up, in the case of the Czech/Polish style short leader systems, in the case of French/Spanish longer, as much as 20 ft or more.