I got a call from Jim Matush that he was finally ready for his graduation trip (actually, I think the call was from Carol). He said he would like to pair it with Mike Hemmersmeier’s graduation if that was possible. No problem as Jim Craig and I were free on this day and agreed to take them out on Friday, September 12th. Jim Matush said that he specifically wanted me to teach him on this day. My first thought was “wow, that’s brave of him”. So, we scheduled the trip and had seven others join us on this clear and hot day on the water.
We all met at the Eureka commuter lot around 6:15am. Eleven of us headed to Montauk State Park (Jim Craig, Jim Matush, Mike Hemmersmeier and I — plus David Knight, Larry Mangels, Ken Welter, Pete Drochelman and his friend – Jim Bingley, Steve Baker, and Wes Sebacher). We arrived as usual around 8:30am, bought our tags and headed to “suit up”.
Kenny took Jim Matush while Mike Hemmersmeier went with Jim to the river to practice casting and the different techniques that were taught in the class. The other seven headed to all parts of the river. Jim and Mike did well as the “instructors” put them through their paces with several techniques: swinging flies, stripping flies, dead drifting flies. Both Mike and Jim caught their “graduation” fish before lunch break which always takes the pressure off.
Everyone met up for lunch with stories of their catches or “near misses”. It seemed that the ones that didn’t fare well in the morning listened closely to the ones that did. We found out later that everyone did better in the afternoon. The flies that seemed to do well were of various types: midge larva, mohair leeches, wooly buggers, some dry flies, scuds and the like. The waters were cold so there was no worry of stressing the trout, but it was just getting them to bite. Probably the time where the fishing caught on was near the end of the day around 4pm – 4:30pm.
According to the “new graduates” they had a blast of a day and so did the others. I love the discussions that go on while fishing, eating lunch and of course during our dinner on the way home. New friends were made and old friendships rekindled. Unfortunately, with the large group we decided to go to Jim Craig’s favorite place, The Pizza Inn. Not my favorite but it wasn’t bad, the owner visited us several times at our table and well, they do have ice cream as part of the meal (as much as you want too!!!). Now that the waters and the weather are turning cooler it is time to head out. If you haven’t graduated yet from class – why not?
