|
|
Meeting Report: May 1999
At the end of a long winter a few of us MBTU folks were sitting around thinking up ways to
give our wives and families the pleasure of our absence, and also trying to think up
creative new program ideas. Program chairman Ted Calcaterra, always with the educational
goals of the membership in mind, suggested a weekend at River of Life Farm.
The selected date was the first weekend in May, which was met with great enthusiasm. After
all, that would be two weeks BEFORE the folks from Mid-MO were there, which meant we had a
fighting chance to catch some fish. But then one of our more well-educated members pointed
out that that was Mothers' Day.
I wasn't sure whether that meant we would get no attendance, or whether we would be
overwhelmed with members, but figured if I went fishing that weekend I might as well move
to Dora and open a "Hooter's." We rescheduled.
Friday, May 21 was bright, clear, and moderately cool. Treasurer Jim Umen, being a
perfesser or researcher or something at Wash U, was smart enough to get an early start,
and he drove down in the morning. Late in the afternoon four of us piled into Roy
Cleveland's new Suburban and arrived at Dora after dark. Since only one of us had been to
the ROLF before and we didn't know exactly which road to take, we drove around for a while
admiring the countryside and making sure Roy's Suburban went through enough brush and mud
to set it well on its way to being a real fishing car. Of course, that premium beer in the
hands of the navigator made it a little easier to miss our turn-offs, until it spilled
(the smell of all that new leather probably scared the fish, anyway).
Up early the next morning, and made our way to the water. The river was in marvelous
condition: strong but clear, water temperature 58 degrees. Myron had a canoe and a john
boat all ready for us. Jim Umen and Tim Graham took the canoe, while Messrs Cleveland,
Calcaterra, and Patton took the johnboat. We rigged up mainly with bead-head princes and
made our first stop at the falls. Almost right away Umen and Calcaterra were into nice
rainbows - a practice they continued throughout Saturday.
The river is strong, the rocks are slick, and it is a challenge to wade, as Roy Cleveland
can attest. I was fishing about 100 feet downstream from him and saw a Wheatley fly box
float past just out of reach. Dumb me, I was paying too much attention to Roy, who was
trying help us by drinking all the water in the river.
It seems most important to heavily weight the flies, and it lots of flies work if fished
very near the bottom But that means LOTS of weight. Using that technique, we all hooked
several fish. By the end of the first day, Umen had 24 and Calcaterra had 15, including
one very nice brown caught while dead-drifting a nymph from the johnboat.
(The johnboat, incidentally, is very good for this kind of fishing. With a modicum of
skill at the oars, I believe the johnboat is easier to maneuver in the river than a canoe.
It is easier to put the casters in range of likely lies and to enable long dead drifts.
Rowing the johnboat was so much fun that I broke my 6-weight so I could have more time to
row the boat and watch Calcaterra and Cleveland fish.)
Had virtually no success in the daytime with dries. There were a good many caddis flies
and mayflies, but the fish all seemed to be deep. Late in the day on Saturday, though, Tim
Graham, fishing with a large stimulator dry in the large pool above ROLF, landed a 17-inch
brown. Probably the largest fish of the weekend.
The following day (Sunday) Umen and Patton walked up to Kelly Ford and fished our way back
down to ROLF. Fishing was much slower the second day, so we reluctantly gave up about 1:00
in the afternoon and returned to St. Louis.
I'm planning another trip as soon as possible. Somewhere in that river is an expensive fly
box full of flies."By Bob Patton |
 Back to
the Fishing Reports Page |
|
