Since John Scott moved (Hi, John, hope all is well with you!) we're not seeing many posts about action on the South Fork so I thought I would recount my visit there Friday afternoon. Got there about 1:30 and parked near the gate east of the train tressel below the Heise bridge. The gate was open, for some reason, but it's posted so I didn't drive in. Walked through the gate, crossed the little bridge and immediately descended the bank and crossed the side channel at the narrowest part to a tiny "island" in the side channel. Not a soul in sight in either direction from the time I got there through the entire 5 hours I was there--a new experience for me on this stretch of the river.

I had sort of "inherited" an old Wright & McGill Eagle Claw "Favorite" model 8 1/2 ft 7wt glass rod with Pflueger Medalist reel and I wanted to see how they perform. I started with a brown rubber legs with a princes nymph dropper. First cast was to the deep runout by the bank. Found the glass rod a little heavy and the action of the fiberglass quite different than my Sages, as expected, but not too bad. Second cast the indicator disappeared and I connected with a chubby, feisty 12" cuttbow. A few minutes later, another cuttbow, about 10". Then, a small brown, about 8". All within about 10 minutes. Although there were fish rising, the tandem was obviously working so I decided to stick with it. A minute later, had a nice 10" cutt with beautiful coloring in hand. This was going to be a great day!

I had planned on moving down towards the tressel but changed my mind and decided to move upstream a bit and cross to the main channel. On the way, however, I stopped and fished the lower section of the side channel near the north bank. I've never had much luck in this quarter-mile long side channel, even though it looks like there should be fish in there. However, I immediately connected with a brown, then a rainbow, then a cutt, all about 10" and all in quick succession. Having even more fun now!

Crossed the island to the main channel and started at the south end. Over a couple hours, worked the quarter mile or so up to the east end of the island where the side channel starts. In that stretch, caught about 10, pretty much all browns and cutts, all 10-12". Also hooked up with several that tossed the hook, 2 or 3 of which were obviously chunkier than the others I'd been catching. Every fish in hand and all those I was able to see that got away, to that point, had taken the princes nymph.

At the east end, just below the start of the side channel, there is a smooth section in the main channel just above some riffles. Waded out about a third of the way and cast quartering upstream, which permits a long drift. Connected with the first of about half a dozen whitefish during the day.

Next cast, the indicator went deep and when I set the hook I could tell it was a very nice trout--heavy and full of fight. Took a few minutes to land him. Once he was in hand, I saw that he was a very darkly colored, hook-jawed brown, about 20" (longer than my forearm), the only fish in hand all day that took the rubber legs. Definitely the best fish of the season for me so far, and maybe my biggest fish on a fly rod ever.

After catching a couple more whitefish, the sun was getting low so I made my way down the side channel, not expecting much based on past experience. The upper part of this channel doesn't lend itself to wading because of the steep, rocky bank so I just flung the tandem in from up in the tall grass and let 'er drift through the middle of the channel. My luck in this section must have changed because I caught and landed about 8 more trout, mostly cutts or cuttbows, and 1 rainbow, all 8-10", plus several 10" whitefish. Had about as many hookups that threw the hook. By the time I reached the lower end of the side channel I was back to where I had started. I tried the first hole of the day but had no takers so I crossed and headed back to the car and home for dinner.

This was my first trip to the South Fork this year. I've been breaking in the "new used" Sage SLT 3wt I bought from Jeffnles1, and the new Orvis reel I bought myself as a Christmas present, on Birch Creek, Warm River, the Teton and Rainey Creek, and having a lot of fun. But I think this is the best time of year on the South Fork and it definitely won't be my last this year. No complaints about the Eagle Claw "Favorite" but the Pflueger reel is a little klunky and the drag is pretty useless. The weight and action of the rod definitely took some getting used to, especially after fishing almost exclusively the 3wt this year. However, I'm still thinking about building a 7wt. I think it would be lighter and my bad shoulder wouldn't get quite so sore.

They say a bad day on the river is better than a great day in the office. Well, this one, especially since I had it all to myself all day long, was a GREAT day on the river and was definitely better than my best day ever in the office.

Tight lines, everyone....

http://s401.photobucket.com/albums/p...w&t=1255851815