What do you do when you wanted a bunch of guys to go on an overnight fishing trip, but you haven’t decided on any of the details, not even where you are going and for how long?  You wing it.  Mike Oldani led the collaborative planning process by getting input from all those (fool) hardy enough to sign on.  And so the plan was born.   This 3-day trip to Montauk began Thursday November 14^th.  Everything went perfectly, except for a few minor bumps in the road (or ditch).

The first bump occurred the day before we left.  A family priority for Mike Oldani popped up and he had to back out.  If you didn’t already know it, Mike is a really good son to his aging mom.  Mike had already laid out the plans for everyone, so we carried on.  We were certainly sad he couldn’t join us.

Nevertheless, the show must go on with more surprises to come, such as this one.  At 6:15 AM, Mike Bisaga, Don Varner, Jim Craig and Scott Payne were waiting for Matt McClure at the Eureka Park’n Ride.   Hmmm.  No Matt. Then the text, “My car is packed, ready and running, but the keys (and spare keys) are locked inside it.” Hmmm. Without delay, we put Matt “On the List” (as if he didn’t feel bad enough already) and left for Montauk.  Fortunately, Matt caught up with us on the water before lunch.

Because Montauk Park is closed on Thursdays, we fished outside the park.  Mike and Don started fishing below the cable.  Scott and Jim started at Baptist Camp.  It wasn’t long until Matt caught up with us at Baptist Camp.  We had the river to ourselves.  We met for lunch then switched fishing locations.  The temperatures were a little chilly, which translated into finicky fish and slow fishing that day.  But, we still had few fish in the net and stories to tell over dinner.

That night we enjoyed some great barbeque at Olig’s restaurant outside Licking.  The waitress didn’t seem to mind our typical sophomoric behavior and we were even offered some inside fishing information by a Montauk local at the next table.  You know us.  We are irresistible to most people.

We returned to the cabins that night to settle in.  We stayed in three of the cabins just outside the park at a site known as Montauk Cabins.  They were clean and comfortable, with kitchens and an outside barbeque grill and fire circle.  They were perfect for us.

The next morning Scott and Jim were at the river for the 8 AM siren.  This was the first time we have ever heard coyotes howling back at the siren.  The temperature was in the low 20s.  The rest of the guys were soon on the water.  Fishing the second day picked up nicely.  The five of us started near the top.  Again, we had the river to ourselves.  Glenn ( aka “Ditch”) Haake and Jason Edwards joined us mid-morning.  The fishing was fair in the morning.  It wasn’t until later that day other fisherman started showing up.  By then, we were all catching fish and the temperatures were warming nicely.  Various flies worked, including soft hackles, but Matt was having consistent success on the cerise worm.  It wasn’t long before we were all following his lead and putting fish in the net.  Later that afternoon, Glenn started rocking it with a brown wooly bugger.  Matt and Jason threw Griffith’s gnats in the deep section above the spillway and cleaned up.  The 4 PM siren again gave the coyotes something to howl about as our fishing came to an end.  However, the highly anticipated potluck was about to begin.

Kudos to Mike Bisaga for organizing the potluck and to all the guys for the amazing dishes they contributed.  However, Mike deserves a second shout out for his grilling skills.  The meat was amazing.  The main entry was rib eye steaks with pork steaks as our side meat.  Can you really have too much meat?  The guys contributed delicious salads, cheesy pasta, and awesome parsley butter potatoes.  After we were stuffed from dinner and variety of adult beverages, Matt stunned us with his dessert.  He brought individual bunt cakes, which of course, we renamed for another part of a fisherman’s anatomy.  They were so good that we agreed to remove Matt from “The List.”

Saturday morning again started off cold.  Ice kept forming in the rod eyelets.  And, it didn’t take long for the fish to let us know they had no interest in the cerise worms that worked so well yesterday.  But, it didn’t take long to find out what they did like.  Jason caught fish all day long on a Griffith’s gnat with an RS2 or soft hackle dropper  Matt and Glenn found yellow soft hackles to be very productive, and Jim rocked it using a brown wooly bugger and white wooly bugger tied in tandem.   Everyone agreed the bites were very soft, yet once you got the hang of it, we cleaned up.  The grand finale was when Jason caught a fish right at the siren.  See his picture below.

Fellowship dinner that night was at Missouri Pizza Company in St. James.  Once again, we enjoyed reliably good pizza and good banter among brothers.   Thank you Mike Oldani for initiating and planning this trip.  I think you may have started a tradition.

Oh yeah, you will have to ask Glenn about the “ditch” reference.