Well, another graduation was completed this past Thursday. As Chris Wiley finished the Winter fly fishing class with his “graduation” trip. Eight other members joined him at Montauk State Park on this cool and cloudy day – ideal for fly fishing. Pete Drochelman, Tom Petrie, Ken Welter, Bob Hassett, Raul Vargas, Jim Craig, Charlie Trankler, and Kenny Klimes joined Chris Wiley for his “graduation trip”. Jim and Charlie went up on Wednesday and stayed at “our Montauk cabin” for a couple of nights. Yes, we do have a cabin just a mile of two from Montauk that we can use as part of the fellowship. Want info on it? Let us know.
Jim reported to us that the fishing was good the day before our trip, so we were excited about our chances of trout in the net. Kenny took Chris below “the boulder” to practice all the techniques that he learned in class. Stripping, swinging, and dead drifting were on the menu for the morning. Chris lost a few fish but did great with all of the techniques. I have to admit the fishing was tough in the morning, but I assured Chris that the fishing lately has picked up during the afternoon when the temps become a little warmer.
We left the water for lunch with the guys and got the latest information on what flies were hot and which locations seemed to be the best. Not many fish were caught in the morning hours by the others. So, we were all looking for a better afternoon. Jim took Raul below the cable for his first time out there. Raul caught 3-4 trout but later said it was tougher outside the park – so true. You have to be “on your game” when outside on the Current River. Funny story – Raul asked Jim if he ever falls in. Jim responded with, “I haven’t fallen in a long while, so I guess I’m due”. Two minutes later Jim went down hard. Just goes to show you we are always “Due”!! Of course, he blamed Raul for mentioning it earlier! BUT Jim did get a 19-inch brown to raise his spirits.
Kenny took Chris up stream to the start at the spring and work down stream from there. Again, it was really tough EVEN Kenny was having a hard time catching anything while nymphing. Even he was getting frustrated. Until a fly fisher came by and caught two back-to-back in the zone, they were fishing. Kenny asked him what he was using – a olive bugger he said. So as soon as the guy was out of site Kenny told Chris to change to an olive bugger. Why mess with success! Well, that was the ticket! Kenny and Chris started hooking fish. They met up with Ken Welter and Kenny told him to try an olive bugger. Kenny showed Ken a technique that he likes to use when fishing buggers. Bam, Ken was now on to fish too. Never be too proud to try what may be working!
At the end of the day, we all met up. The afternoon proved for all to be better than the morning. Happy about that, Chris, as the “graduate”, voted for Mexican food. So, for fellowship dinner we headed to what is turning out to be one of our favorite spots, Arandas’ Mexican restaurant in Salem, MO. We had a great meal as always. Kenny and Pete did make a big mistake as they ordered the “wrong size” margarita. They got the Monster size – mistake, big mistake (see pictures). Another great trip of fellowship. Let’s get out there – relax – fly fishing is therapeutic.
