With what seemed like a long, long winter of snow and just plain cold weather things are starting to look up--Spring is here! This Spring, like the last few, has so many signs of good things to come...some obvious and some not so 
obvious. For starters we are coming off of the largest numbers of young of the year (first year) rainbows that we have seen in 15 years. Another is we have had very, very stable water all winter which is something that almost never happens. Usually as we move into Winter from Fall we face low water and that never happened all winter. As a matter of fact this winter was a very wet winter...but a 'good' wet meaning most of the precipitation was snowfall which doesn't flood the river but just gives it a little something extra over a longer period of time. Those 2 factors along with many others that have been happening over the last few years are equaling very good things for the wild rainbows and trophy browns of the North Fork of the White River.
The tackle that will best suit you for the North Fork of the White river is your standard 9' 5wt to 6wt rod combined with your favorite streamer rod as Spring can bring some higher water and some great streamer action or a smaller 3-4wt for swinging wet flies and tossing dries. Leaders should start at 9' and can go as long as 20 with certain techniques. Weight-wise leaders should be from 3x to 5x and tippet will go from 3x to 6x.
As for the actual fishing there is no doubt that any given day the best producing method is nymphing. When nymphing on the North Fork of the White river the main thing I will tell people is to make sure you are nymping deep.
These fish generally hold on the bottom...which works out pretty well because that is where most big fish hang out too, but more on that later. If you are indicator fishing a good start is usually around 6' from your lead fly on a 2-fly rig. To me, if I am nymphing and regulations allow it I will be fishing 2 flies on almost any water I go to and the North Fork of the White lends itself to fishing a 2-fly setup very well. Having a heavy lead fly aids in getting your smaller dropper fly down deep quickly and you still have the comfort in knowing that the main weight on your line is a fly and not a bunch of split-shot without a hook in it.
I am asked all the time about dry fly fishing on the river. My usual answer is "come prepared but count on it" but Spring is one of those times of year where if you keep an eye on conditions you can catch fish on dry flies. As usual most hatches are in the morning and evening but some solid BWO and Caddis hatches can literally happen about anytime. The fish in the North Fork of the White tend to be called fat and lazy meaning they want the food to come to them but what can and does happen is you can run into a massive caddis hatch with very little fish activity on the surface and then you can run into a great BWO hatch and the fish can go absolutely crazy...go figure.
Before, during, and after any hatch is always a great time to swing soft hackles, winged wet flies, and various emerger t
ype patterns. Actually on any given Spring day a fisherman can completely concentrate on these types of patterns and do very well in both numbers and size of fish. So for sure come prepared with plenty of soft hackles!
Spring is probably most notorious for some epic fish numbers days. In the right conditions you can run into fishing that is simply out of this world. But Spring is also a very good time to get into those big fish as well. It seems that everything needs to come out of the winter "funk" and fig fish are no exception. We tend to find them in the riffles feeding on the many, many insects that are on the move as much as we see them in the deep pools which automatically makes them a 'little' on the easier side to get a hook into....but fast water and big fish equals a pretty massive fight on your hands so have an exit strategy for every stop you make.
I don't know if it is the nicer weather with the warmer temperatures that makes me completely love spring fishing or the usual great fishing that comes with spring...but BOTH of those scenarios work pretty well together in my eyes.
