This was a special fly-fishing trip for your FATC as we invited down from Chicago the President of Altar Fly Fishing, Eric Camfield, to check our great “fly fishing” state of Missouri. I met Eric at the Denver Fly Fishing show this past January and it was not just by chance. I genuinely believe that the Man upstairs had His hand in all of it. While visiting our FATC sponsors at the show I went to visit an old friend and guide from Lees Ferry Anglers, Terry Gunn. After telling Terry our fellowship story, he asked me if I could come back later in the afternoon to meet a friend of his named John Doss. John is the president of the Arizona Fly Fishers. John then led me by the had to meet Eric Camfield at the Altar Fly Fishing booth. As I said, Eric is the President of Altar Fly Fishing (john Doss is on the Board of Directors). While talking to Eric about their organization’s mission, we realized we have a mutual friend in the Chicago area – the relationship just built from there.
Altar Fly Fishing’s mission is “Guiding you to live a greater life with God, yourself and your most valued relationships through life shaping fly-fishing retreats and outdoor adventures”. I was impressed (I know it’s hard to impress me – but they did). I brought back info to our Board, we had a zoom conference with Eric later in the year, and our Board voted to send a donation to their “Soul of a Pastor” retreat this past September. The “Soul of a Pastor” retreat shepherds, growing and healing the souls of those who truly attend to our souls, our churches, and our communities – our pastors.
Our Board of Directors thought this organization was such a perfect match with ours that we are now in the planning stages of bringing a “ Soul of a Pastor” retreat here to Missouri in November 2021. This will be our big project for 2021 and we will need a lot of volunteers and funding for many different areas. More to come as we get into 2021!
BUT let us talk a little about our fly-fishing trip with Eric. Eric arrived on Sunday night and on Monday Kenny Klimes, John Muckerman, Jim Craig along with Eric headed to Montauk for two days to show Eric what we had to offer his retreat in 2021. We stayed at the Montauk cabins owned by Bryan and Diana Ard and discovered this would be a perfect place to stay for the retreat. We fished Montauk State park on Monday on what was supposed to be a below freezing day. Ha, never trust a weatherman! It was a beautiful day and we truly had the entire park almost all to ourselves. We caught plenty of trout with most caught in the afternoon when it warmed up a little. We felt that the cold front that came through threw off the fishing some, but we did ok with most catching numbers in the teens. We fished the entire park too, from the top of the spring all the way into the campground area. That evening we discussed, over a great hunter’s chili made by John and some bourbon, how we could pull off an awesome retreat for the pastors and Altar Fly Fishing.
The next morning, Tuesday, we fished outside the park since it was closed. Below the cable and Tan Vat were the targets for the day. We got to see a rare sight that most people have never seen – Frost Flowers. When the temperature in the morning is just right moisture seeps from the bottom of plants and creates a beautiful frost like flower. Check out the pictures if you have never seen this or go to the MDC website and search “frost flowers”. We caught some beautiful butter belly browns early on and thought that something special could happen this day. Even the rainbows we caught were of exceptional colors. Everyone caught fish but Eric did outstanding getting the big fish of the day an 18 ½ inch brown. Of course, Kenny was a gracious host and let Eric have ALL the good water. Most of use did Euro nymphing and many of us lost a bunch of flies on these two days. I hate when those trees appear from nowhere.
On Tuesday evening we had a Hicks BBQ dinner and yes, Eric was initiated with an Ory’s spud. Even Kenny and John joined him in eating the Chernobyl spud. Eric presented the guys with Altar fishing caps, an Altar buff and best of all a Bible for fishermen called “Casting for the Way” NIV new testament. We presented Eric with a FATC cap which I am sure he will wear every day!
I have to say we and Altar are extremely excited to partner with them for this pastoral retreat in November 2021. As all of you know, “It isn’t just about the fly fishing”.
