We saw the kids off early Sunday morning but opted to skip church and Sunday school.  Fortunately, we’ll be able to view the sermon later in the week as it will be posted to the internet.  After the kids departed, we cleaned house, washed clothes, and collapsed…but it was sure great getting to visit with them.

On Monday, Kay began experiencing the full affects of the crud, and is stuffy and coughing like crazy, with a little bit of fever; she rarely gets sick, and hopefully this is not a repeat of what she had in late March.  While she was in bed, I continued finalizing plans for our trip to Door County, Wisconsin, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  We agreed on a route, schedule, and RV parks and campsites, and we’ll complete making reservations this week.

While Kay continued to convalesce, I fished a couple of hours near Ol’ Charlie’s on Tuesday morning and had a super time catching fish on dry flies using the little 2 wt. rod.  Here’s the report:

TIME: 8:25 AM TO 10:35 AM

WEATHER: Low 80s, partly cloudy, windy

WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units

LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, Riffle Across from Ol’ Charlie’s and Riffle at top of Island

FLIES USED: #20 Kay’s Gray, #14 Furnace Cockleburr, #14 Pink Cockleburr

ROD USED: 7′ 9″ 2-wt Winston WT

HATCHES: Midges, occasional sulphur, occasional caddis

OTHER: I fished solo. A single fisher was fishing near the stocking chute, and had a fish on as I waded across; the area was stocked last week. Otherwise, no one else was in sight, even across from Ol’ Charlie’s and it has always been a good place to fish dries, midges, and emerges. There was a heavy mist over the water, but fish were still sipping midge emergers. I tied on a #20 Kay’s Gray, and took an occasional fish until the mist burned off. And then, fishing picked up. A sulphur would hatch here and there, so out came the pink cocklebur. Sure enough, the first cast produced a fish, and they continued taking the fly until I moved upstream at about 9:45 AM. Fish in the upstream riffle also liked the pink cockleburr, and were a bit larger and heavier than those in the downstream riffle. Some put a significant bend in the 2-weight Winston. With generation forecast to begin at 11:00 AM, I left the water early, having caught about two and a half dozen fish, all on dry flies. It’s so fun to cast to a rising fish, and catch it, or even to get a brief hook-up. It doesn’t get much better!

I met John and Ed near Rim Shoals on the White River Wednesday morning.  I wanted to run the motor and they reluctantly agreed.  Both caught fish.  Here’s the report:

TIME: 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM
WEATHER: Low to mid-90s, mostly sunny, wind
WATER CONDITIONS: 2 units and dropping to 0 units
LOCATIONS FISHED: White River, Jenkins Creek to Lower Rim Shoals
FLIES USED: Cerise San Juan Worm, #14 Super Fly, Brown Wayne’s Fly, #14 Furnace Cockleburr
ROD USED: N/A
HATCHES: Midges, sulphurs

OTHER: I asked to be the “Boat Boy” for long-time fishing friends, Ed and John. After launching at Rim Shoals Access, we motored upstream to Jenkins Creek, and then drifted down; both Ed and John caught fish. We continued this drift for another hour and a half, with Ed and John catching fish on most drifts. As the water dropped, however, the fish quit biting. We motored downstream and drifted from Upper Rim Shoals to Lower Rim Shoals, and again Ed and John caught fish on each drift. At about 11:00 AM, the fish quit biting and we toyed around with a furnace cocklebur. John had 4 fish on his first drift fishing the cockleburr, catching a couple on top and a couple stripping the fly. I left them at 12:00 noon to take care of some chores at home, but as always, we had a blast.

Along with Kay and Sandy, we all had a great dinner at Whispering Woods near the Norfork Dam.  Their apricot-glazed pork chop is to die for!

The rest of the week was quiet, except for Kay’s incessant coughing.  With hot weather, the butterflies are really flying, and I photographed these butterflies sipping on the lantana and marigolds.