It’s not just the economy. It also applies to FATC!
It started as a simple idea. I wanted to fish Montauk. Because it is a little longer drive for me than most FATC members, I wanted to spend the night and fish a second day before coming home. So, I asked myself, “Self, (Jim Craig) do you think anyone else would what to do the same and split the cost of a room?”
So, on August 3rd I posted the Double-Header trip on the FATC Calendar for August 19th & 20th. The flood gates opened and guys immediately started signing up. The day before we left, we had 16 guys signed up for the 19th and 11 guys for the 20th. It didn’t stay at exactly those numbers because some guys had to drop at the last minute and some guys signed on at the last minute. If memory serves me correctly, we had 8 guys spend the night. Five of us stayed in the Montauk Cabins outside the park, and the rest camped or found lodging elsewhere.
Over the two days of fishing, the following FATC members wet a line: Kenny Klimes, Jim Craig, Steve Baker, Don Varner, Charlie Trankler, John Muckerman, Dan Staggenborg, Bill Byington, Harold Bates, Vernon Preston (and his friend Rich), Scott Dougherty, Jason Edwards, and Rick Zychinski.
With so many guys coming, nearly everyone found their own riding partners or drove themselves for a variety of reasons. We set only two times for everyone to rendezvous, noon on Thursday and Friday for lunch. At both those times we could swap fishing info and make dinner plans for each evening.
We pretty much blanketed the park both days. Thursday morning was crowded in the park. Guys were still catching fish despite the consensus that the fish were suffering from lockjaw. There were a lot of fish in the park, but they weren’t active. That afternoon, sections of the fly fishing only area started to clear out and several of us had whole sections of the river to ourselves. We met that evening at 5 PM at the Montauk Lodge for dinner so those staying overnight could fish that evening. The lodge was happy to serve us –we can be boisterous a times– and allowed us to put several tables together so we could sit as a group.
After dinner, Jim and Kenny headed for Tan Vat and others stayed in the park. At Tan Vat the rainbows were hitting on cerise worms and the browns were hitting soft hackles or Barr’s emerges swung in the current. Kenny netted an 18” brown on a tiny soft hackle. I am not sure how others did in the park that evening, but I didn’t hear any complaints.
Everyone was invited to Jim and Kenny’s cabin that night for a social hour (or 3-4 hours). John, Don, Steve, Jim and Kenny had a merry evening sharing stories, jokes, banter, beer, and bourbon. Maybe it did go a little late….as the five of us didn’t make it out for the opening siren the next morning.
Everyone eventually found their way to the river Friday morning. Most guys fished in the park, but Steve and Don went to Tan Vat, John and Jim when to Baptist Camp, and Kenny, Scott and Jason fished below the cable. Although no one reported any trout-butt-spanking stories at lunch, everyone caught fish. I did hear that Scott caught his personal best rainbow below the cable that morning. By lunch a few guys had to leave. The die-hards stuck around for the rest of the day. That might not have been so wise. A light storm predicted to arrive at 3PM arrived with a vengeance at 1:30PM. We got soaked and the fish seemed to turn off during the storm. But, after it was over, the biting continued and we dried out pretty well in the sun.
Due to popular demand, fellowship dinner Friday was held on the way home at Arandas Mexican Restaurant in Salem, MO. Scott, Jason, Steve, Don, John and Jim enjoyed good food and good company.
So here’s what you are really waiting for….the list of productive flies. It is a long one. Soft hackles, Barr’s emergers, white cranefly larvas, both black and red zebra midges, blue cracklebacks, cerise worms, orange perdigons, orange foam beetles, cream worms, chocolate covered cherries, foam ants, fatty zebra midges, little olives – a variation of Kruse’s mohair leech, shrimp pink micro crane fly larvas, and Lethal Weapon 3s (aka Bennett Spring killer, heavily weighted).
As you can see from this list, lots of flies seemed to work. I think the key factor in catching was switching from 5x to 6x tippet in the gin-clear water and moving to find fish that were feeding.
As always, it was a great time being on and off the water with these guys. If you couldn’t make this trip, I hope you will jump on the next one. Watch your email for TeamUp calendar announcements. I know that the demand is still out there. Peace out!
