The trip that almost wasn’t. But we did it! Thursday, May 9th was our second run at it. Jim
Turner was ready, but rain and the resulting high flow rates at Montauk threatened to force a
second cancellation of Jim’s graduation trip. Rains at the end of April forced cancellation of his
first planned trip April 29th.
Rain on May 7th pushed the river flow to over 2x’s it’s average volume. By the afternoon of
Wednesday, May 8th, the flows were on a solid downward trend. But, there was another ½” of
rain predicted for that evening. That would have surely forced cancellation of the trip.
However, that rain missed Montauk and we made the final decision to go 5 AM Thursday
morning.
Accompanying Jim on his graduation trip were Bob Palish, Bob Born, Bob Hassett and me, Jim
Craig. As usual, we met at the Eureka park ‘n ride and left there by 6:15 AM. Because Jim lives
quite a way west of Eureka, we picked him up at the St. Clair park ‘n ride.
Everyone knew that despite the continuously falling flow rate at Montauk, the river was still
going to be high and cloudy. Nevertheless, all were eager to get to the river and try their skill.
And, as luck would have it, we were greeted by three more FATC guys at the Naturalist Cabin,
Joe and Dan Staggenborg and Al Harper. They had been fishing and camping in the area the
previous couple days, and were eager to join us for some time on the water before they had to
leave that afternoon.
As we entered the park, it looked like high water and the threat of rain kept a lot of fishermen
away. The fishing pressure was quite manageable. The water was higher, faster, and cloudier
than normal, as expected, but very fishable. Jim (the instructor) took Jim (the student) to the
usual place below the boulder where we practiced the techniques that were discussed in class.
Although the high and fast water made our usual crossing at the boulder a little dicey, we made
it with the help of our trusty wading staffs. We then used our wading staffs for the rest of the
day. Jim did very well, but no trout in the net. Actually, most of the guys returning to lunch
said that the morning was very tough.
Fortunately, a few guys had some luck, one of whom was Dan Staggenborg. He found the trout
were eager to take a brown mohair, egg-sucking leech that he stripped in deep on his sinking
line. Dan was nice enough to give Jim Turner a couple of his leech flies. So, guess what we
tried after lunch?
Everyone headed out to fish their favorite areas for the afternoon. Jim and Jim headed to the
spring to start at the top. Since Jim Turner didn’t have a sinking line to get his leech deep, he
fished it deep under an indicator. It wasn’t long before those magic leeches produced. First
cast and Bam! Jim hooked, and perfectly fought his graduation trout. Soon after that came his
second. The afternoon continued to be tough fishing, and while Jim had good presentations
the fish were tight lipped. He only had a couple more hits. Still, two nice fish for a new trout

fisher on a tough day is a great start. Everyone else also reported spotty fishing in the
afternoon with a little luck on a variety of flies including, the brown egg-sucking Mayer’s mini-
leech, cerise worm, clown egg, Y2K, and cream crane fly larva.
I have to applaud all the guys who were willing to go and support our newest graduate under
the worst water conditions of any trip this year. They were willing to face the challenge and
learn from the experience. What did we learn? Under high flow conditions, you have to get
your fly to the bottom where the fish find protection from the current. Then they will eat. But
moreover, they learned fishing with buddies is always fun. Remember, “It’s not just about the
fishing.”