report 9th-10th

[snagged in outlet 3]

Saturday fished McClellans in the morning and did great great on buggers and nymphs. Several fish around 17 inches. I think they fought harder this trip compared to the winter fishing I usually do. Taking to the air and cart-wheeling when hooked. Went to Rim Shoals in the afternoon and sweated out a few trout but it was HOT.

Sunday morning went to BS dam to find it empty. We absolutely slayed them and went through the shoal twice with different patterns and just kept catching and catching. Around 9:30 or 10 a big group shows up and it's the Casting for Recovery ladies. My heart sank. Some of these ladies had a hard time walking and some even fished out of chairs in the water. I thought of all the trout my buddy and I had just caught and how much better the fishing would have been for those ladies had we not just hooked a bunch. I moved out to give them space and told the few guides around me that we caught a bunch using trout crack. I mean what can say after all the fish we caught? One lady with her guide asked me what I had success with and I told her, then she says "good luck today" I almost cried.

John Berry was there helping out and that just shows what kind of man he is. Thanks John. I know those ladies appreciate everything you did. When I was walking out Sister Carol (I think she is the head of Casting for Recovering)came to me and said "I have to ask what you were using". She had apparently watched me catch a few on the far side of the river out of the way of the ladies. I told her in the last hour I was using cracklebacks and gave her some to pass out. She was very kind and said if even one fish was caught by one of the ladies it would be just great. Some of the ladies had never fished but just getting the chance to get out was rewarding for them I am sure. I said goodbye to Sister Carol and to tell John I gave them some flies. I said that so John would know me as a poster on this board. Great job John! Let us know next time as I would gladly help out. I'm not a guide but I can usually catch a few when I go.

The last thing I told Sister Carol was I understood what the ladies go through after being diagnosed with breast cancer because my wife is a 7 plus year survivor.

My wife had just given birth to our baby girl Dec. 17th 1998. On April 1st of 1999 she had gone to the doc about hardnes in her breast thinking she had a problem with a clogged milk duct after the birth. Well, with one mammogram Wham!!!! You've got cancer. 38 years old, after just having the one baby she had waited her whole life to have was just 4 months old. We were shocked. Anyway 7 and a half years later my wife is in Florida with our daughter visitng her sister and her two little girls. Girls trip to the beach while daddy chases trout doesn't get any better than that. My wife had a bunch of surgeries (I lost count) and 9 months of Chemo. She has had surgeries up to the last one in April of last year with another big scare but she is still here.

I think the statistic is 1 in 7 women in the U.S. get breast cancer. With the help of our Lord and modern medicine a lot of little girls get to grow up with the much needed help and love of their mothers. I have never felt so bad about catching a bunch of fish as I did yesterday.

Snagged.

[Danoinark]

Thanks for the post snagged. I was one of the helpers in the first CFR event in Arkansas a couple of years ago held at Gaston's resorty. It was a combined Arkansas and Missouri event. The last couple of years they split up the two states becasue of all the applications they get now from these ladies. Pat Hummert and his wife Patty from St. Louis were instrumental in getting that first event organized. They now are involved in the Missouri event.

It was such a pleasure participating in the activity. Its one well worth it charity that I don't have a problem helping or contributing. They can always use flys and such....

Dano

[John Berry]

Thanks for the comments guys. I wasn't going to post anything about the event because it was such an emotional thing for me. My lady was pretty ill. She had to fish from a chair all day and really had a lot of trouble getting around. Yet with all that she had a positive attitude and really enjoyed the outing. My wife Lori, my brother Dan and his lady friend Judy Boston were there as well. We feel that it is important to participate in things like this. There is more to fishing than pictures of large trout.