Let’s plan a FATC fishing trip!

So we did, Don Varner, Scott Payne and Steve Baker met at the 44/109 commuter lot at 6am sharp and headed to Bennett Spring, the weather was cool and the chances for rain  were low. The 2 ½ hour drive couldn’t go by fast enough. We arrived at Bennett at 8:30 or so and as we pulled into the park we were surprised by the numbers of fisherman in the stream. I assume everyone wanted to get at least one more trip in of catch and keep. We parked just below the first dam, got suited up and found a spot that wasn’t to invasive of other fisherman. The action started right away with Don and myself netting several fish. Scott had gone up above the dam towards the spring. Eventually Scott joined back up with us at a spot that produced about 50 fish before lunch. Size 18 and smaller zebra midges worked well for a while along with nymphs, cracklebacks and egg patterns. Scott has a top secret midge pattern that he fished the entire day with amazing results. The fishing stopped cold about 11 am and by noon we were ready for lunch.

We found a picnic table and enjoyed our lunch and talked strategy for the afternoon. We all decided that we would like to fish till 6:15 before heading back. I wanted to fish the same area with a crackle back without success while Don and Scott headed below the bridge. As I worked my way down to the dam I was able to pick up 3 more fish and decided I would go back upstream. The smart thing to do would have been to stick with Scott as he proceeded to pick up another 35 fish in one spot just below the bridge. I was back at our starting spot and not having much luck and here comes Scott and every time I looked at him he had a fish on. The guy is amazing. At about 5:30 I decided I had enough and went to the car to get out of my gear. Scott was right behind me and we relaxed and waited for Don to give it up.

All in all we had a great day with a total of 87 fish in the net, 14 each for Don and me with Scott catching the remainder. Heading home we decided to get a pizza in Rolla and found an off the beat Pizza joint that turned out to be ok. The drive home was quite as I napped while Scott drove. It was a very long day but worth it. Note to self, next time don’t leave your phone in the car as I have zero pictures of the trip but Don was smart enough to catch Scott in the act of netting one of his many fish.

Note to all you guys that are stuck going to Montauk all the time, take a trip to Bennett just as a change of pace. I don’t think you’ll regret it.