8/16 & 8/17

Having an itch to fish is becoming a habit for me and it didn’t take long for several other FATC guys to join in.  With the availability of the Ozark Hills Lodge it was a no brainer to make it an overnight trip.  I made arrangements for 6 of us to stay in 2 connecting cabins at the lodge.  It was my intention to make it easy on everyone and just plan on everyone bringing meat for sandwiches for dinner and lunches and something simple for breakfast.  This would give us more opportunity to fish.  Fortunately for all of us Harold Bates made the suggestion for everyone to bring a steak and he would provide a tabletop propane grill along with potatoes and a salad.  So now we had the fixings for a great fellowship dinner.  My bad for not remembering that it’s not just about the fishing.

Most everyone had differing plans for the trip.  Scott Payne and Harold Bates met at the Commuter lot at 5:30 am and were at the park around 7:30.  After buying their tags and getting ready to fish they find out that Don Varner was at the stream by 7am.  Don drove down by himself because he had plans to leave early afternoon on Thursday in order to watch the Cardinals get beat by the Mets.  WHY?  Dan Staggenborg also drove alone with plans to stop by his RV at Montauk on the way home  Thursday, Vernon Preston and myself (Steve Baker) left St. Louis about 10:30 after my 9:30 Dr. appointment.  We didn’t arrive at Bennett till after 2pm and by the time we started fishing it was almost 3.  The group was also joined for the day by Tim Klotz and Bob Hassett  I didn’t see much of them since they took off about 5pm, so I have no idea of how their day went.

The guys reported that fishing was good in the morning but the bite got tough in the afternoon.  Vernon and I only had two fish each to the net all afternoon.  The rest of the guys had a little better luck but not like earlier in the day.  We had planned to meet at the cars around 6:30 and head to the cabin for that steak dinner.

The fellowship we enjoyed Wednesday that evening was the best part of the trip.  Good food, cold beer, and fun conversation.  The peach pie Dan brought down was really good.  I would never have suspected him of being able to bake.  After the clean up and a long day we were all ready to hit the rack, especially knowing that Harold would be at it in the morning preparing a breakfast of bacon, sausage, eggs, and Biscuits.  I think next time we do an overnight trip Harold will have to be included, but we will all have to chip in for the food.  We all helped clean up after breakfast and packed up our belongings.  We wanted to get back to fishing and wouldn’t be back to the cabin before the 12:00pm checkout.

The fishing on Thursday was better for most of us and really good for others.  Flies that worked were Scott’s special HOP and egg, the Bennett Spring killer, and numerous other flies that would work for one or two fish.  I had a pattern recommended by Dan called the Duracell.  I tied up a few and it looks like it may turn out to be a good confidence fly.

We all fished throughout the morning and enjoyed the great weather.  We had lunch about noon but didn’t sit around long since everyone wanted to keep fishing knowing that 4:30pm would come too quickly.  We all met back at the cars, changed out of our gear and decided we would meet in Rolla for fellowship dinner at American Taco.

I’m thinking that this is probably one of the last busy weekends with the kids returning to school and vacation time coming to an end.  I for one will be glad to see the regular season end and catch & release season start up.

Just in case you hadn’t noticed I left out individual fish counts in the report, I mean come on it’s not just about the fishing.

Steve Baker
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Life is like a short putt, don’t miss it and don’t leave it short!