I would like to start this week by wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas (none of that Happy Holidays stuff) and thanking all of you for visiting our Blue Ribbon Guides’ website and for fishing with us as clients in 2015.
My guide season was
supposed to be finished last week but lo and behold some avid fly fishermen
wanted to get in a little fishing before the year ended, which was good with
me.
I received a call from
Ronald who said he and his wife, Kathleen, would like to fish for two days
just before Christmas. Ronald and Kathleen are from South Dakota and
would be in the area visiting family for the holidays. So, we booked them
for December 23rd and 24th. The first day was a float from Bull
Shoals State Park down to Whitehole. As it has been for most of the
year, we fished with a considerable amount of water and there was no
wading. Both Ronald and Kathleen are very good fly fishermen and
fish out west numerous times throughout the summer. This day brought
plenty of fish but nothing of any real size.
On the second day we
fished the Rim Shoals area which also brought plenty of fish along with two
very nice streamer caught browns. Ronald and Kathleen had never
fished large articulated streamers on heavy sink tip lines before but quickly
caught on and mastered the technique. After their shoulders began to ache
we switched back to nymphs and finished the day down river from the Crooked
Creek confluence. Overall it was a very productive two days of fishing
on the White River and Ronald commented that the White River is every bit as
good, if not better than any of the western rivers that they fish.
That brings us to
Christmas day. I received a call a couple of days ago from Nancy who
resides in Fayetteville. Nancy said her husband is deployed in the middle
east and would not be home for Christmas. Nancy said her son, Tyler,
is an avid fisherman and wanted to learn how to fly fish. I told
Nancy that I had the perfect place to teach him how to become a fly fisherman.
I met Nancy and Tyler at
Dry Run Creek at 8 AM. Tyler said he would like to use the new
equipment he received for Christmas. I took a look at what he had
received and discovered that he had made quite a haul. Tyler
received a new TFO rod and reel with a RIO line. He also got a new
pair of Redington waders. I took Tyler across the street to the
state park and worked with him on his casting and explained the fly fishing
process. Tyler is a very quick learner and picked up the casting in
short order. Then we headed over to Dry Run Creek. I tied
on a San Juan Worm and showed Tyler how to side arm cast. As luck
would have it Tyler caught a nice 16" rainbow on the very first
cast. Needless to say Tyler was immediately hooked on fly fishing. Tyler
continued to catch fish for the next three hours. Although nothing
gigantic was landed, Tyler continued to catch 16"-18" rainbows and
browns.
Finally
about 11:30 I said we had to call it a day and Tyler reluctantly
reeled in his line and we headed to the parking lot. I told Tyler
that he did a fantastic job for his first time with a fly rod. He
promised that he would continue to practice his casting. At that
time Nancy got out her checkbook and started writing a check for my
services. I thought about it for a minute and decided that since her
husband was serving our country and could not get home to spend Christmas with
his family, I just couldn't charge her for the day. I told her to
put her checkbook away and to tell her husband, thank you very much for his
service. Nancy was overjoyed.
With all the crazy stuff
going on in this world right now, I realized on my way home that this is
what Christmas is really all about -- not all the junk you can buy in a store
but to be able to give something to someone from the heart.
Merry Christmas, Tyler
and Nancy!
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