With high hopes of a mild January day and hungry fish, we packed our gear and favorite flies for a trip to Montauk this past Friday, January 31st. Bill Byington, Mike Oldani, Alex Zambrano, Vernon Preston, and Jim Craig carpooled from the Eureka Park’n Ride while Sid Aslin and Tim Klotz met us at the park.
Besides the great fellowship we enjoyed during the car ride, the promise of a great day began to unfold as we observed the grazing livestock we passed. What’s he talking about?!? Well, if you have ever been on a FATC trip you know what it means when you see that the cows are spread out in the fields. And, it wasn’t just the cows. We also saw a colony of domestic rabbits grazing in a spread out fashion. If you still don’t know the monumental significance these animal behaviors, I suggest you jump on one of our FATC trips ASAP.
We were pleased to find we had the park almost to ourselves. Tim and Sid started fishing down by the lodge. The rest of us started at various points along the fly-fishing only area. FATC fly fishers were the first ones to the river. Jim started fishing with Vernon and Vernon had his first fish on before Jim could get into the water. Soon everyone was catching fish. Not much wasn’t working. Some guys were spey casting, some Czech nymphing, some stripping woolybuggers, some swinging soft hackles, and some dead drifting various nymphs and midges. They all worked.
Lunch was full of fish stories. Everyone agreed the morning was a success, except that the weather forecast for a mild day with a high in the high 40s was not happening. Despite the chill, everyone was eager to get back in the river while the fish were so agreeable. But, where was Alex? He never showed for lunch at the agreed upon time a place. This could be good news or bad news….
The fishing stayed hot all afternoon, right up to the closing siren. Throughout the day, we had consistent success on bread and butter flies such as ginger, olive and black woolybuggers, cerise worms and black worms, yellow soft hackles and orange soft hackles, and Griffith’s gnats. By 4 o’clock we were ready to call it a day and head for a Mexican fellowship dinner. Oh yes, we did find Alex that afternoon. When asked why he didn’t come to lunch he replied, “I was having so much fun (catching fish) I completely lost track of time.” Who could fault him? Wouldn’t we all like to use that excuse a time or two. And, what fly was he using? If you know Alex, you know which one. He is the king of the chamois whammy. If you are headed to Montauk, better put that one in your box too.
