May
10th turned out to be one of the best days I have had on the river with clients
in quite some time. My partner, John, and I had a two-boat guide
trip with two couples staying at Gaston's. John had Dan and Nikki
and I had Marc and Megan. Marc and Megan are in the transition
period of moving from Oklahoma to Minnesota. Because I am FROM Minnesota,
I just cannot figure out that move!
Upon
arrival at their cabin at Gaston's we all introduced ourselves and I
immediately wanted to have Megan and Marc in my boat. Megan was
munching down a piece of crisp bacon so I immediately knew we had something in
common.
We
loaded up their gear and stopped at the office and picked up a fishing license
for Megan. Then we were off to the White River. John and
I decided to fish the Rim Shoals area on this day because the water was running
at minimum flow and we knew we would be able to drift fish this area.
Upon
arriving at the parking lot we observed that the lot was full, however,
there were no boats in the water and nobody was fishing. We launched
the boat and immediately headed up river. Marc informed me that
Megan had never fly fished before so we stopped on the river so I could give
her a brief casting lesson. Megan picked up the casting in short
order and told me that she had been practicing her casting with one of those
short practice casting rods. Megan appeared to be able to handle the
casting so I decided to get her into the fish.
As
soon as we got into position for the first drift, Marc hooked into a rainbow in
the first 20 feet. Marc jumped out into a commanding lead while
Megan lagged behind a little. Then it happened. Megan
hooked into a nice feisty rainbow and she had her first trout on a fly rod.
Once
Megan got the hang of the casting and hook setting she was off and
running. Both Marc and Megan caught fish on every drift and even had
several doubles.
Then
Megan hooked into what appeared to be a large fish. Megan fought the
fish like she had done it many times before and brought a really nice brown
trout to the net. Both Megan and Marc were excited. I
think Megan was a little more excited than Marc since he hadn't caught a brown
yet. We took pictures and returned the brown to the river unharmed.
We
continued to fish and catch large quantities of fish all day. Then
later in the afternoon it was Marc’s turn to land his brown trout. Marc
did a great job bringing the fish to the net. We took a couple of
pictures of the fish and returned that fish to the river unharmed as
well.
All
in all we had one of those days where the fish cooperated and we were able to
introduce another person to fly fishing. Estimates of fish caught
were in excess of 75 fish. Megan did a fantastic job and I'm sure
she will improve every time she hits the water. It should be noted
that Megan is not your normal mall shopping young lady. Megan loves
the outdoors and sharing a duck blind with her husband. She is also
a great turkey hunter. In fact, this season she shot two turkeys with one
shot -- plus she loves fried bacon!
This
was a great day on the river with a young couple that is just starting their
fly fishing career.
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