What happens when you have a Day between Christmas and New Years that is in the 60’s? You get a large group of FATC members fishing.
What happens when an ungraduated FATC member and Kenny Klimes unknowingly sign up for the same trip? You have a graduation.
What happens when you have a large group of FATC members fishing on a beautiful December day and a new member graduates? It turns into a Great Day.
On Monday December 27th, a group consisting of Scott Payne, Jack (Scott’s guest), Don Varner, Will Black, Glenn Haake, Jim Craig, Matt McClure, Harold Bates, Kenny Klimes, Sid Aslin, Tim Klotz, and Dan Staggenborn all hit Montauk for a post-Christmas fishing trip. The day started warm and stayed that way, it was beautiful. As the team spread out in the park for the morning session, Kenny joined up with Harold Bates below the boulder to make Harold an official graduate. With Kenny’s encouragement (heard up and down the stream), it did not take Harold long to put several fish into the net, with a couple more in the afternoon.
After a lunch of sharing stories and strategies, Glenn, Will and Matt decided to head below the cable, where the fishing was slow, however, each, managed to get a few in the net. The rest of the group once again spread out across the park, finding that the morning crowds had thinned, giving the FATC guys room to work. A few rising fish were caught, using soft hackles, Barr’s emergers, and crackle backs, but most of the fish were caught near the bottom. The flies that seemed to work were – red and black zebra midges, eggs, worms, Dan’s Bennett Springs Killer, psycho prince nymph, orange Perdigons, the hair of the dog, and Scotts “house of pain” otherwise known as the hair of the wife.
After the horn, everyone except Kenny, who was heading to Springfield, went to Pizza Inn in Salem for a quick pizza dinner to share stories of the afternoon.
Sid noted that the park has improved under the leadership of the new naturalist and superintendent. He noticed a large delivery of trout food being delivered from Utah, which has been made more efficient under the new leadership.
