It was a beautiful day to be at the river in the wake of last week’s heat wave.  The forecast was right on the money.   

Steve Darr, Bob Palisch, Vernon Preston, Harold Bates and me, Jim Craig, were eager to enjoy some fishing and camaraderie.   

We were pleased to see only a few anglers when we arrived.  Beautiful weather and light fishing pressure seemed too good to be true.  We found part of the reason when we arrived at the lodge to get our trout tags.  The electric company had shut off power to the park and local area while they upgraded local equipment.  Signs warned the power would be off through mid-afternoon.  We guessed that dissuaded many campers and overnight guest from staying at the park.   

We geared up at the usual spot with Bob being the only brave wet-wader for the day.  Harold and Bob headed up stream while Steve, Vernon and I headed the other way.  For the morning, I wanted to start by the boulder then jump downstream to fish below the bridge and the bait area towards the lodge.  I was hoping we would have most of that area to ourselves, and we did.  We found few fishermen below the bridge, but we also found few fish below the bridge.  The weather and water conditions were great, but for some reason, we caught only a few fish and saw barely any.  

Bob and Harold shared a similar report of their morning experience when we met for lunch.  We all raved about the weather and beauty of the woods this late in August.  The low humidity, blue sky, and some beautiful wild flowers reminded us there is more to enjoy in God’s creation than just fishing.  Bob and Harold saw more fish in the areas they fished, but still, the fishing was tough.  After lunch and a few idle threats to add dynamite to our fly boxes, we headed out. 

Again, we enjoyed relatively light fishing pressure.  We all caught fish that day, but we had to work for them.  We agreed it wasn’t a bad day, just one that makes you think a little harder about how to trick these fish.   

We learned that the super clear water we were admiring for its beauty should have alerted us to up our stealth game.  Montauk fish (in the park) don’t usually bolt when they are spooked; they just stop eating.  So, approaching and moving through the water quietly was key.  Second, we had better success when we downsized our tippet to the thinnest as possible.  Yes, the power-of-3-rule you learned in the FATC fly fishing class is still quite pertinent.  But, today taught us that “rule,” like all fly fishing “rules” are the starting point.  You have to adjust to the conditions.  I think we all would have caught more fish if we had implement those practices at the beginning of the day, rather than when we figured them out late afternoon. 

Lots of flies caught fish, but no one fly was the clear winner.  The ones that did put fish in the net were Bob’s green HOP type fly, cerise worm, olive split back emerger, euro pheasant tail nymph, blowtorch, crackle back, olive leech, caddis fly, HOP below an egg pattern, Y2K, red San Juan worm, and orange mop fly.  As you can tell, we tried about everything.   

Even though the fish were not jumping into the net, it was a great day that finished with great banter and conversation at our fellowship dinner.  We stopped at Missouri Hicks BBQ.  They are working through some new ownership issues, but we left full and happy, and talking about our next trip.   I hope you can join us!