Over a lifetime
of fishing, there are some days that stand out more than others. Last weekend I
had such a day. It was late morning and the air was already heating up. I was
on the top of a ladder caulking a storm window. It was the final task on the
job of painting my house and I was glad that it was about over. I got a call
from my partner in Blue Ribbon Guides, Dennis Schule. He said that a lady had
called our guide service looking for a guide on Dry Run Creek for two ten year
old boys that afternoon.
I
scrambled off the ladder and gave Katie a call. She was on the road driving
from San Antonio, Texas and would be in our area in a couple of hours. The
boys, Warren and Ben wanted to fish Dry Run Creek. They had limited experience
and no gear. We agreed to meet at Dry Run Creek at 2:30 PM. I gathered a couple
of pairs of waders and some heavy socks from my garage and loaded up some water
and my fishing gear and headed for the creek. My loaner rods and big nets were
already in my Suburban. I keep them there at all times, to be ready for a guide
trip at a moments notice.
I
arrived about five minutes early and they were already there. I was surprised
that there were only a few cars in the parking lot. I surmised that school was
due to open and the vacationers were headed home. It was steamy hot. The
temperature was scheduled to soar into the mid nineties and it was nearly
there. We all donned our waders and walked down to the creek. I rigged a rod
for Ben, put him in a likely spot and gave him some rudimentary instruction. I
then began rigging a rod for Warren. I hadn’t gotten too far in the process
before Ben had a twenty two inch rainbow on the line. I took a few minutes from
the job at hand to net the trout. I returned to rigging Warren’s rod and Ben
hooked another and another. I was beginning to think that I would never get
that rod rigged. Eventually, I got it rigged and Warren got in on the action
and began landing trout.
Both
guys were landing fish. The action was hot. About that time it began to rain. It
was a gentle shower at first but quickly picked up steam. They didn’t have rain
gear. I offered to go get my rain jacket for Katie but she declined. The boys
didn’t even notice the rain as they were keyed in on the fish. I must say that
I was impressed with Katie’s perseverance. Most of the women that I know (most
of the men also, for that matter) would have bailed immediately. She stayed
there and got soaked. Everyone else on the creek bailed. Nothing thins the herd
like a little rain.
We had the place to ourselves and we took advantage of
it. We fished from one end to the other and picked up fish everywhere we went.
It was not just numbers but size also. We caught six trout over twenty four
inches including a long but skinny brown and an outstanding cutthroat. There
were several close calls including a huge rainbow that swam under a log and
refused to come out and a monster brown that took three gravity defying jumps
before spitting the hook. The rain cooled the place down. Katie went back to
her car and got two fleece jackets for the boys as they were freezing.
We stopped about 5:30 PM. It had been an incredible
afternoon of fishing. We were all soaked and the idea of some dry clothes and a
warm meal was very inviting. It was an unexpected outcome for such a rainy day
and created some great memories that will be passed on for years to come!
John
Berry is a fly fishing guide for Blue Ribbon Guides in Cotter, Arkansas and has
fished our local streams for over thirty years.
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