Well, when you plan to go fishing it just doesn’t pay to get sick before the trip because you will always miss out on a great trip.  A Friday fishing trip was put together when four, yes four, guys scheduled for the trip cancelled due to sickness. I guess something is going around!  So, six “healthy” FATC members made the trip to Montauk and the Current river. Miles Meyer, Glenn Haake, Craig Dull, Jim Franke and Kenny Klimes drove down to Montauk from STL and were met by Jim Craig who came in from visiting his daughter in Springfield, MO.  Each guy had to bring a Doctor’s note before being accepted on the trip — just kidding.

Kenny wanted to check out the fishing at Tan Vat and Below the Cable before fishing the park. So, Jim Craig and Glenn joined him as Jim Franke, Miles and Craig started the morning in the park.  The Tan Vat area looked awesome with clear water running about 3 feet deep. The ideal location for the trout to be – but not really.  Only a few fish were caught here after about two hours of fishing. Jim Craig found a hole that brought two fish to the net and Glenn caught one rainbow downstream and that was about it.  They headed to below the cable with much better luck as several nice fish were pulled out there. Miles, Craig and Jim Franke had fair luck in the park with several rainbows caught. The last couple of times in the park it seemed the fishing picked up a little later in the morning and early afternoon.

So, we all met for lunch at the picnic bench by the Nature Cabin to talk strategy.  Kenny received a surprise when Miles presented him with his “belated” birthday present.  Since his Birthday Tournament was cancelled twice, Miles thought it was time for him to receive his surprise birthday gift anyway. As Miles held the small tube and talked about how Kenny should get into Tenkara fishing to be the complete angler, you could see the look of “worry” on Kenny’s face as he thought he was receiving his first Tenkara rod. The tube had the Official Tenkara USA logo on it and as he opened the tube slowly, he only found a T-Shirt inside that said, “I’m Your Mama now, Maggot” with a Pug Dog wearing sunglasses on the front. Only a T-shirt that a Sensei would love!!!!  Of course, we all laughed!!!

During the afternoon we all fished together starting at the top of the spring and worked our way down the fly only area. We all did well as Jim Craig practiced Euro-Style nymphing and Jim Franke guided the rest of us down the stream. “Kenny, put on a black zebra midge!” he shouted. So, I did and caught fish, one after the other – is he a Sensei too??? The catching picked up and made it an awesome day of fishing and fellowship.  Around 4:30 the gang called it quits and decided to eat Mexican food on the way home (actually, it was because they decided they wanted Margaritas – ha).