| Marty, a fly fisherman |
|
|
|
Although the booking was made by one of my favorite repeat customers, Tim Heffernan, the “rookie” was a big Irishman named Marty. Soft-spoken and with classic Irish red hair on head and face, what he somewhat lacked in finesse he more than made up for in desire, tenacity, and inner strength. Our day was cold (low 20’s) and had plenty of wind and snow flurries to go along with the low, clear streams nearly devoid of fish this spring. The basics of fly-rod use and casting were begun “on the job” in an area of lower Elk Creek having abundant back casting room. As the morning progressed, I found my greatest difficulty trying to mold the brute strength of this construction worker into the finesse required of a steelhead fly-fisherman. No fish were caught that morning save a large sucker I hooked and landed during a demo cast. We took a long hike thru the woods back to the car, checked out the waters under Whiteman’s bridge, and headed for the Legion Hole. Marty and I covered the fast water run above the hole without success, even though I had caught one the day before. The bait fishermen were doing well at the hole, especially one using salted minnows. Various minnow imitations were tried without success. Eric, the third member of the group got extremely cold and left for home early. Another move was in order…to warm ourselves in my car and hopefully change the proverbial “luck of the Irish.” On the way back to the car, I whispered to Tim, “I’m going to fix Marty right up with some practice on the steelie smolts,” having found a hole just full of them on my scouting mission of the day before. We parked the car at Struchen Flats, totally alone in the huge parking area. After a quick lunch of sandwiches and candy, we hit the first hole. I tied a small chartreuse sucker spawn on Marty’s tippet, walked him across the creek to the best spot, and watched as his float twitched with his first strike. After some fine-tuning of his hook-setting coordination, he hooked and landed his first steelie…a mere 6 inch beauty. With loving care, we released this and a few more somewhat larger fish until I saw three large shadows deep in the hole and below the actively feeding smolts! With further coaching, Marty enticed a larger fish into a strike, but missed the hook-up. Tim had gone downstream earlier, so Marty and I got the car and picked him up. Since he was almost “frozen” by the bitter wind, we all took a break and hit the Elk Creek Inn for a bowl of soup. An hour or so later, it was back to Struchen Flats. Before donning my jacket, and with the heart of the eternal optimist I am, I attached my landing net…”just in case.” This time we headed downstream with Tim leading the way, and Marty at my side helping to spot fish in the smaller runs. Carefully approaching one of these areas, I told Marty to stare at the foaming water for a steelhead tail. It took a while until he finally saw it. I then went through exactly what he was to do after hooking the fish, as Tim walked back to see why we stopped. “There’s Marty’s first steelhead,” I said. After the “post hook-up plan” was explained to Marty’s understanding, we rehearsed the perfect drift. I added a split-shot a few inches above the chartreuse egg fly. The first 50 or 60 drifts ensued. Although Marty gained intimate knowledge of the large witch hazel branches just above this run, he never actually hooked them! The fish moved in response to a few of the presentations, but wouldn’t hit. After trying various egg and sucker spawn patterns as well as nymphs, I tied on my own emerald shiner marabou imitation and added another tiny split shot. The steelie hit on about the third drift! Marty lifted the rod perfectly as had been rehearsed. “Don’t palm the reel or hold the line…let the rod and drag fight the fish…OK, reel in some line…keep steady pressure on her…keep trying to lift her out of the hole, and as she gives in a little, try to bring her toward this gravel bar.” Marty followed my coaching perfectly. “If she heads downstream, point the rod at her and we’ll follow.” After a few more minutes of cautiously increasing pressure, the fish tired. I slowly walked below the hole with my net ready, as Marty eased the fish toward the net, expertly giving a little slack as she entered its’ opening. “Well done Marty!” A shade over 6.5 #, the two-foot long female was a fine specimen and offered a fittingly successful conclusion to a difficult first fly-fishing day for this young man. The photos helped capture and preserve the joy of this unforgettable event. A short story by Doc Wally. |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|