They say there is pent-up consumer demand in the country from this lousy pandemic.  But, let me tell you this.  When the cold weather finally broke and the sun started to shine, there is also pent-up demand to go fishing.  And so it was this past Thursday.    

On March 4, 2021, eight of us coordinated our schedules to meet at Montauk for a day on the water.  Scott Payne, Jim Anzer and Jim Craig drove in one car.  Vernon Preston and his guest Ron Beckmann drove in another.  Dan Staggenborg, Al Blair, Charlie Trankler, and Martin Jones drove separately to meet us there.  

Everyone met at the “Staggenborg Tables” to suit up and form a plan for the day.  Everyone headed off to their own spot, loving the mild temperatures of the morning.  Unfortunately, as the day went on, the competition for space in the river grew.  Still, we all found good places to fish.    

At lunch everyone shared their morning success tips and enjoyed lunch in the warm sunshine.  

Finding a place on the river to fish after lunch was a challenge until about 2-3 PM.  Then, all the other fishermen started to fade away.  The lower stretch of the fly fishing only area had the most space and there were many fish sipping a big caddis hatch in the middle of the afternoon.  Dry flies and soft hackles were the fly of choice.  It was nice that we could fish later into the evening.  We fished until 5 PM.  It was great at the end of the day when most all of us ended up at the boulder.  It was a FATC fly fishing frenzy.  We had great banter fishing side-by-side, catching fish, but mostly watching Scott reel them in with his #20 white/grey Barr’s emerger.  Scott did generously offer to share that magic fly.    

I can confidently say everyone enjoyed the day.  Numerous fish were netted, even more were hooked.  The #20 white/grey Barr’s emerger was the most preferred fly, but other flies were also winners.  Those other flies were gold and green wooly buggers, egg patterns, cerise worms, soft hackle carrots, watermelon perdigons, yellow soft hackles and crackle backs.    

Since we left the water a little late, we were quite ready to eat a fellowship dinner as soon as possible.  That made the Tator Patch in Rolla our choice.  Actually, it turned out to be an excellent choice.  The generous size hamburgers and pork tenderloin sandwiches were all we could ask for.    

Great weather, great fellowship, cooperative fish, and a great fellowship dinner.  I guess it was an all-round “Great” day.  There are now lots of day-trips on the calendar.  I hope we see everyone on a trip soon.