Sometimes a one day trip just isn’t enough. Three FATC guys from the graduation trip on Wednesday 6/21 decided we needed more. After Jim Craig’s group left for dinner on Wednesday, Bob Hassett, Vernon Preston, and Steve Baker stayed at Montauk and continued fishing till about 7 PM. We just about had the stream to ourselves by that time. I saw one other fisherman nearby and a couple of deer grazing on watercress. The solitude of the stream with the haze settling in never ceases to amaze me in the early evening.
We called it a day and headed to the FATC cabin for dinner and a good nights sleep. Unbeknownst to Bob and Vernon, as I was lying in bed, I decided that I would make the suggestion to fish Baptist Camp in the morning. They like everyone else always say, “I don’t care, whatever you want to do”. After breakfast we packed up our gear and headed to Baptist Camp. My intensions were to get there before the crowd.
Since I was wet wading I was ready to go in minutes, once we got to the access. I spoke to Vernon trying to convince him to stay above the access area to fish, because I knew it would be tougher for him going downstream first and then having to walk back upstream.
Bob was planning to fish his way downstream and I figured we would cross paths along the way as I would be fishing back up to the access. I decided I would walk up the road and try to find the trail that cuts through woods and down to the stream. It was easy enough to find but not easy walking up that hill. The trail was easy to follow as it sloped downhill all the way to the stream. Once there, I got a great view of what I was told was some great looking trout water and I knew it would be a good morning. I rigged up my line with a blow torch fly on top and a perdigon fly on bottom and attached my Dorsey indicator. Moving upstream past one downed tree toward another tree, I could see trout everywhere. I slowly moved up to get within distance and trying not to spook them. My first cast was a little short but the next cast was on target and BAM! My first fish of the day was on. I continued to work that hole and within 2 hours I had 10 trout in the net. The browns were winning 9 to 1. Most were caught on a perdigon.
I decided I would start moving upstream to check on the others. As I moved up to fish along the way, I managed to get a nasty tangle in my line so I had to retie everything. Just about that time, I see Bob working the stream down toward me. I told him of my good fortune and he was just about to move into that hole when all of a sudden here comes a massive kayak hatch. That pretty much blew that hole up. We tried to convince them that there was a toll to pass under our tree but they just kept going. Bob continued to work downstream and as I turned around to move upstream to check on Vern, who do you think is standing about 20 yards away? Yep, Vernon, he had decided he wasn’t going to miss out on the action. Vernon and I both wanted to fish a little longer but we were both worn out and ready to call it a day. Bob had worked downstream to the next bend and hooked onto a very nice 18” brown. He sweet talked one of the kayakers into taking the picture. I flagged him down to let him know we were heading up the trail. And he decided he would follow us since he wasn’t familiar with-that area. After what seemed like an hour we finally got back to the car and as we struggled out of our gear, we decided we would hit the road with plans to stop in St. James at Rich’s Famous Burgers. Taking the scenic route it seemed like a long drive with a lot of hills and curves.
After getting our fill at dinner the drive home was quiet except for the noise of the rumble strips on 44 and we arrived back at the commuter lot by 4:15. We said our goodbyes and went our separate ways knowing that the fishing was good and the fellowship was even better.
