New Friend, Old Friend, and Best Friend

Last weekend was about as good as it gets. I got to spend four days fishing with my best friend (dad), spend time with an old friend (Mel), and got to fish with a new friend (Ken). Life cannot get any better than that. Drank some great scotch, lots of rum, smoked a good cigar, and even had a pomegranate beer. Not crazy about the beer. While it may seem a bit boring, our trip to Montauk turned out to be pretty great. Again, like at Bennett Spring in June the crowds were not there. We fished in relative peace and this time it included the weekend. Over the course of four day I caught over 100 fish with the largest one about 19 inches. While “roughing it” in Pops camper, complete with microwave oven, full size bed, and satellite TV to watch the Cardinals sure helps the comfort level. In the end what was the most enjoyable was sitting around the picnic table with Ken, Mel and Dad telling fishing stories, tying flies and planning our next excursion. Did I mention we drank some rum? There was also rumor of a cocoanut cream pie, but it didn't last long.

Ken tying up some woolly buggers.

Here is Mel...Talk about a complex person ...Tattoos, dreads, but the guy fishes dry flies on a custom made bamboo with silk line. He is the best fly tier I have ever known and a wonderful friend. On top of that he loves to strike up a conversation with the ORVIS clad snobs. Go figure!

The greatest thing about trout fishing is that no matter how much you know there is always something new that will stump you. Who the heck would have thought that the key to success was a sparkly hackled #10 crackleback? I know it is a great fly and I have over one quarter of my dry fly box filled with them, but no gold ones, no blue ones, none above a #12 and most tied as a dry. I had never seen a blue crackleback until a few weeks ago down at Bennett Spring. For a day, down at Montauk they seemed to be the fly of choice for the trout. The next day my buddy Mel gave me a C.R. Gold (Current River Gold from Mr. Story up at Feathercraft). Basically it was a # 10 golden crackleback with rubber legs. The trout destroyed them.

Pops stripping a CR Gold

 I even got a little time to play with my underwater camera. I was going to give a product review about this camera, but the photos below really speak for themselves.

Sculpin. This camera ROCKS!

I call this one..."Whatchyadoing in my stream"

With the economy being what it is I ended up with two "staycations" this year. One to Bennett Spring the other to Montauk. While the west is beautiful, you cannot beat a relaxing few days close to home, in the company of great friends and a stream full of really hungry fish.

Bennett Spring Fishing

Finally, got to get away and fish for a few days with dad last week. Our tent camping trip to New Mexico was canceled due to the fact that both places we were heading had forest fires blazing and Colorado has too much water because of all the snow melt. Ended up staying local and going to Bennett Spring for a few days. As you can tell we really roughed it. Upscaled it from the tents to the camper. Complete with a satellite dish so we could watch the Cardinals lose.

Roughing it with 57 channels

Mid days were a bit slow...best thing to do was nap.

We ended up catching lots of fish once we figured out what they wanted. Who the heck would have ever thought about a blue crackleback? They really like the emergers after the sun went down and the shade hit the stream. Scuds also seemed to work. 

Nothing like using a picnic table seat for tying scuds. 

Even hit the Roubidoux for one morning. Lots of smallmouths and goggle eyes down by the island. One hold over trout up in the park area.  

Here is dad contemplating how he is ever going to outfish me...LOL

In the end it was a really peaceful week of fishing. Since it was midweek it wasn't too crowded in the park and there was plenty of elbow room. I even brought home a few fish for my wife.