Well, we definitely are not living the life of the “Rich and Famous” especially due to the pandemic, but our guys are still getting out to “unwind” on the water in pursuit of trout. Six FATC members met for a day fishing at Maramec Spring park (Steve Baker, Pete Drochelman, John Best, Jim Petersen, Dave Beerbower, and me – Kenny Klimes). It was forecast to be in the high 20s and warmer to maybe 40 by the afternoon but with no wind it just seemed warmer than that. Maybe it was due to the anticipation of catching some rainbows in what was an empty park.
The water levels were still high, and clarity was not good from the rains on last Monday. But as the water levels receded the clarity improved, and the trout were willing to take a fly. Prior to lunch the fishing was a little tougher. Larger flies were used like woolybuggers, leeches and rubber-legged stoneflies in the morning and changed to nymphs in the afternoon. Easily the top fly was Kenny’s ‘Hair of the Dog” fly that he tied using hair from his son’s dog. It is remarkably similar to the Walt’s Worm fly which does not even resemble a worm. It is a remarkably simple tie, and the color was gray with an orange collar. Kenny was able to net 9 rainbows in a small area with an hour time. Yes, it is that hot of a fly!!
Most others caught a trout of two and even some small mouth and google-eye sun fish. At lunch we had the pleasure of enjoying some birthday cake (brought by Jim Petersen) to celebrate John Best’s birthday. As a present John caught his first trout using his Euro- Style rig. He was rather excited so we assured him that there will be plenty more. The group quit early, before the siren. As the faster than normal current made standing slightly more tiring than normal. We were all beat.
Catch and release season is over February 8th – the same day of our Miles Meyer tournament but that does not stop the catching outside the parks. So, continue to test your skills.
