Time: 11:15AM – 4:20PM

Location: Upstream from South Fork Campground

South Fork of the White River 09/10/2025 Photo Album

Not all days can be like Tuesday, September 9, and Wednesday on the South Fork was certainly different. The weather was perfect but maybe a bit too bright and sunny for fish.

I hiked a decent distance from the South Fork Campground and began fly fishing at 11:15AM. The temperature in the parking lot was 55 degrees, so I tied a fleece around my waist beneath my wader bibs, but I never gave a thought to pulling it out. Once again I deployed a Sage One five weight in case of muscular catches.

Definition of Plump

Over the course of the day I covered .8 mile. I attempted to be very strategic with my casts, but I suspect I needed even more discipline to effectively fish the South Fork. After today’s outing I concluded that one needs to hike a good distance and look for sections, where the stream bed narrows. Wide and shallow riffles should be circumvented entirely.

Cannot Wait to Cast

On the day I landed ten trout, and all were rainbows. Two silver bullets in the fifteen to sixteen inch range made my day, and they displayed amazing fighting spirits. I added three bows in the twelve inch range. and the remainder were small fish within six to eight inches. Yes, it was a paltry catch considering I fished for nearly five hours and covered .8 mile.

Better View

Rather Nondescript Lie

I broke for lunch at 11:45AM after thirty minutes of fishing with nary a refusal to report. After lunch, I fooled three small rainbows, but even this meager fish count necessitated a couple hours of casting. After 2PM the action picked up a bit, but I am not sure whether to attribute the improvement to the water temperature warming or being in a more attractive section of the river. I moved the fish count from three to ten between 2:00PM and 4:20PM, and this included the two prizes of the day. I also experienced four hookups with powerful fish that I failed to land. Isn’t that always the case?

Another Fine Catch

Depth and Moderate Current

Wednesday was a fairly strenuous day with moderate results. It was a struggle to get to double digits. I lost quite a few flies due to breakoffs. The scenery was spectacular, the weather was marvelous, and I battled two respectable rainbows. Life is good.

Fish Landed: 10