I
guide quite a bit on Dry Run Creek and know it well. I generally take children
under sixteen but last week I had an adult client with mobility issues. The
first thing that I asked Jerry was whether or not he had an Arkansas disabled
fishing license, which is required for an adult to fish there. He assured me
that he did. I had not guided an adult on Dry Run Creek in several years. The
last time was when I was guiding a group of disabled veterans for Project
Wounded Warrior. We got permission from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission
to take them there.
Jerry
arrived at 9:00 AM and I was waiting for him.
I already had my waders on and I was ready to catch some trout. He was able to
make his way to the wheelchair casting platform on the board walk, with the aid
of a walker, which had a seat built in for him to sit on while he fished.
He
handed me his rod tube and I was surprised to see that it contained a fine
vintage bamboo fly rod. I usually think of bamboo rods for fishing dainty dry
flies on small mountain streams but this one was an eight foot six weight. He
then handed me a fine Bogdan fly reel. I knew that they were rare and valuable
but didn’t know how valuable until I found one like his on eBay for $2,500.00.
The reel contained a braided silk line also rare and valuable. The whole rig
was very old school and was a fine representation of the best of nineteenth
century technology. I strung the rod and put on a fresh leader, tippet, fly and
strike indicator.
In
addition to having the finest and rarest fishing equipment that I had ever
encountered, Jerry was one of the best anglers that I have guided in some time.
He was able to cast, mend, set the hook and fight big fish from a seated
position. This is not an easy thing to do. He caught a nice twenty three inch
male brown on the second cast. I started off standing next to him on the
platform and scrambled down to the creek to net and release the trout. It
quickly became apparent that he was going to catch a lot of fish and I was
going to wear myself climbing in and out of the river. So I just stayed down on
the creek and netted and released trout after trout.
A
little after noon we stopped for lunch. We
found a nice picnic table in the shade with a view of the creek. While we were
there, Jerry commented that he needed a rod with more back bone for the large
fish that we were catching. He broke down the rod he was fishing and pulled
another rod out of his car. It was a fine eight foot seven weight vintage
bamboo and he put another Bogdan fly reel with another braided silk line on it.
I was impressed that he had not one but two incredible old school fishing rigs.
We
returned to the creek and finished the day. We hooked a lot of quality fish
mostly browns. The biggest we landed was an incredibly fat twenty five inch
male brown that was spectacularly colored. We hooked some larger trout, up to
thirty inches long but were unable to land them. Jerry kept count and he hooked
sixty five trout and landed thirty one. Considering how large they were that
was a pretty good percentage. I believe there were over a dozen trout that were
twenty four inches or better.
Jerry
was able to have a great day fishing old school, despite dealing with mobility
issues.
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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