Barry, Gene, Larry et al,
The following is my version of Larry's and my trip to the Mountain Fork River last week.
To sum it up, the fishing was great but the catching was so-so. It was a big disappointment WRT smallmouth fishing. Didn't catch a single one. I caught a spotted bass that went about a pound on Buffalo Creek but finding a place to fish without a guide was tough. We drove all over the back country on logging roads east of the upper Mountain Fork River trying to find access points to Buffalo and Big Hudson Creek. Found the first but never did find Big Hudson which was supposed to have good bass fishing.
On a brighter note, Barry's TFO 6'10" fiberglass rod performed flawlessly. It felt great with a 6FWF. I matched it up with a Bronson 380. It looks pretty good on Barry's rod. I also tried a Teeney T-130. I didn't like casting it nearly so well but neither did any of my other rods. I hadn't used a sinking tip in some time so I guess casting the 130 takes some practice and getting used to. However, the sink tip did get the flies down and I caught several fish using the line. I just hate casting it. Bulldog must really know how to work that line. He is always singing its praises.
My trout fishing didn't go much better. I caught one nice rainbow in the fast water of Spillway Creek on Wednesday afternoon. Foul hooked him in the tail so he put up one heck of a fight in the fast water.
In fact, it wasn't until Thursday evening I did any good. I went by the Three Rivers Fly Shop Thursday afternoon and visited with Jesse King. Jesse told me to try glow bugs about three feet below my Chernobyl Grasshopper (indicator), making sure to use enough weight to get the fly down in the fast water. He told me to fish a fast water stretch just above the Cold Hole (where a bunch of people fish in lawn chairs using power bait etc).
Now this advice was interesting because a few years ago Jesse badmouthed glow bugs, woolly buggers, and even Prince Nymphs - I think he was in his purist phase at the time. In any event, I tried Jesse's rig and location Thursday evening just after a thunder storm went through. I had the stretch to myself for the most part. The first fish I hooked, then landed, put up one heck of a fight. Bent my Fenwick FF84 almost double, went between my legs, and did about everything it could to get off. I finally landed the rainbow after what seemed like 5 minutes but may have been less time. It was a fat 18 inches and I guess it might have gone 2 pounds. In the fast water, it was a real thrill! In fact, I had to rest my arm just a bit before continuing to fish.
The second fish I hooked must have been its twin and I was really getting excited. Unfortunately, he was on for only about a minute and the hook pulled out. In both cases, they hit the glow bug! I subsequently hooked and landed three more fish in the 12-14 inch range, normally what I consider good fish but under the circumstances I now considered "dinks". I caught all of them on the glow bug. By this time, I had fished the stretch recommended so I hiked back down the train beside the stream and decided to try it again. Getting close to dark, I hooked one more "good fish" but it was a very brief encounter of the disappointing kind. To summarize, I caught almost as many trout in about one hour as the number of fish I had caught earlier all week.
Friday I packed up and headed back to Ada. Sorry I don't have any pictures. I have yet to obtain a waterproof digital camera. One final thing to note - the deer ticks were BAD. I got four pretty serious bites so I'm fishing up a dose of doxycycline as I write this report.
Kurt