Ask any fishing guide and
they would tell you that they prefer not to fish on holiday weekends due to the
high volume of other fishermen, boat traffic, canoes and kayaks. However, John and I had guide trips scheduled
for July 2nd and 3rd with some of his long time clients from Tennessee.
On Saturday we met our
clients at a local resort and the weather was not pleasant. It already started to rain and the weather
forecast was not promising. We all met
at the boat ramp and for some reason the rain decided to let up and turned into
an annoying drizzle instead of the predicted downpour. We got the rods rigged and the boats
launched. We decided that I would take
Barry and Susan and John would have Rich and Terry and then switch clients on
Sunday. I headed up river with Barry and
Susan to one of my favorite spots on the White River. It was evident right from the start that I
had two experienced fly fishermen who
could cast well and really knew how to fish.
Susan was a fishing machine who took great pride in her casting skills
and immediately jumped out to a lead with the first few fish. Then Barry started banging some fish but
Susan kept the lead for the entire day.
Later in the afternoon
the weather cleared slightly and we decided to fish hopper/dropper rigs. The fish weren't overly cooperative but they
did manage to get a few small rainbows to come to the surface and take their
offerings. Overall the first day was a
good one with a lot of fish brought to the net.
Day two started off much
like day one. The river was covered in a
thick fog layer and mist in the air.
Today I would have Rich and Terry.
Both experienced fishermen and eager to get on the water. For some reason the girls dominated on day
two as well. Terry started catching fish
but Rich finally got in his groove and brought numerous nice rainbows to the
net.
Then the clouds decided to open up
and pounded us with heavy rain. We had
heavy rain, fog and a little wind thrown in just to make the fishing a little
more challenging. However, even with the
lousy weather Terry and Rich continued to catch fish.
About mid morning I
accidentally got in the wrong drift and the boat
got close to some weed beds.
Terry cast just short of the weeds and we continued our drift. All of a sudden her indicator went down and
at first we thought she was snagged.
Then I saw the indicator heading for deeper water and I knew she had a
nice fish. My first look at the fish was
about twenty feet from the boat and it was a really nice brown. Terry did an outstanding job fighting this
fish and I just kept the boat in position and was ready with the net. Terry brought the big brown to the boat and I
scooped it up.
After a big sigh of
relief by all of us we finally got a good look at the fish. A beautiful male brown that was measured to
21 1/2". This was Terry's first
ever brown trout. What a great brown to
start with. After the high fives and a
successful release of the fish we got back to the business of catching more
fish.
The rain finally let up
and it turned out to be a pretty enjoyable day.
Later in the day Rich caught his very first cutthroat trout so that gave
us a hat trick for the day. Rainbow,
cutthroat and brown trout.
Our day ended around 4:30
and we all lost track of how many fish were caught. I just described it as a very good day.
So, fishing on a holiday
weekend doesn't always mean the day will not be enjoyable. When you have great clients like Barry,
Susan, Rich and Terry who really like to fish and have super fishing skills, even
the crowded holidays can be great days on the river. Thanks guys for two great days on the
water. John and I had a super time and
hope to see all of you again in the future.
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