Looks like a Good Day to go Fishing Trip

  The weather for January 20, 2023 was looking very promising for another day of winter fishing. Although the temps were in the mid 20’s we had sunshine and the prediction of low 40’s in the afternoon. The response was good and we ended up with 7 FATC members making the trip. We met at the commuter lot at 6am with Harold Bates driving Denny Garner and Bob Hassett and Steve Baker driving Vernon Preston, Scott Payne and Bill Grelle.

  We arrived at Bennett at about 8:30 and were surprised at how few people were there. We got suited up and it didn’t take long for the trip title to prove itself. Everyone was on fish right away using just about anything in the box. I guess the fish were just hungry for the hook. I found exceptional luck with a fly I tied up the day before. It’s definitely a confidence fly for me now. It’s a CDC flashback pheasant tail nymph with a midge drooped off the bend of the hook, and it also worked well with a soft hackle trailing behind. Soon it was lunch time and I found myself with a personal best number of fish for the morning. Other successful flies were cerise worms, HOP midge, mop flies and streamers.

  When we met for lunch we found we all had a successful morning. We had a surprise visit from Louisa Runnalls from Tri Lakes Fly Fishers. A group that has an expo coming up in March that we will be participating in. For more info check out the team-up calendar.

  After lunch we resumed fishing and the hits just kept on coming. Vernon and I  went down below the hatchery outlets. I put on a fox squirrel leach pattern that was getting a lot of hits but only a couple of fish to the net. I think the tail might be a little long. Scott, Bill and Bob were fishing below the bridge and having great success and the rest of the guys were up by the spring and below the upper spillway and as we found out later had done quite well. We all fished until the horn and as it turned out there were several guys with a personal best day. The fish count for the group was 205. I told you it looked like a good day to fish.

  The hardest part of the day came when we had to get out of our gear and decide where to go for the fellowship dinner. We picked the American Taco and made the trek to Rolla. After eating we headed back to Eureka with conversation of the days success and the desire to have more days like this. There are only 13 more days of winter fishing left. I, for one, hate to see it end.

Steve Baker