October Trip With Dad

[XP 590]

I've been wanting to get my Dad down to the upper Current for while and finally got to last month. At 89 year old, I wasn't concerned about his ability to navigate a mile or two in the river, he's pretty spry. The problem was getting him to take a few days off work at his consulting business so we could hit a Monday/Tuesday on the stream. Dad started all of us trout fishing in the parks as little kids. We have pictures of my brothers and I standing on the dam at Bennett in 1973, in our cheap plastic waders and Converse high top tennis shoes for our boots. Those were good times. He also took us out west a few times after high school, hiking, riding horses in, and floating on some great water. The last 10 years or so, I've been moving from the trout parks to the streams, and have been wanting to get him out there with me. With four months planning, (for him to take off work), we got a trip in the 2nd week of October and had a blast. The weather was great and the fishing was good. We got our litle cabin at Reeds midday on Sunday, then drove down to Parker to poke around and sight see while the sun went down. I took him across the stream and hiked upstream a few hundred yards, catching a few on the way back down. Then we hiked down the lower road to the big curve and huge boulders where I pulled out a few in the last minutes of sunlight. I've never seen the brownies so beautifully colored. Monday morning, we met a guy named Mike (from this forum) who was nice enough to shuttle us so we could get in at Tan Van and hike down to Baptist. Dad loved it, he didn't realize what beautiful waters we had here. As you probably know, the water was still down low from the drought but we managed a few fish anyway. After lunch at Baptist, we hiked down a little and I hooked up with a few nice browns. The next day, we parked near the cabins and headed down to Tan Vat. The fishing was tough with the low, clear water, but we still managed to catch fish. I'm going to have to learn about dry flies, I'm strictly a nymph guy, but the hatch both mornings was so thick, we nearly choked on the bugs. Strangely though, the fish weren't hitting them as hard as I thought they would. Late in the afternoon, it looked like there were two completely different hatches going on, one with little teeny bugs and another much larger. I was lost but it was a beautiful sight to sit back and watch.

[MaxDrown]

Awesome report!

[mic]

Awesome. "Cat in the Cradle"

[Justin Spencer]

Hope we are all as blessed as your dad at age 89, if I make it that long hopefully I'll have to take off fishing to go to work. I'm sure his working is what helps keep him young!

[cnr]

89 years old and still able to wade fish! Your dad is awesome, I hope I can do the same someday. Great report and kudos to you for getting your dad away from work.

[Nortrad]

Great stuff! Wishing for rain, again...

[Greasy B]

Great report, thanks.

[stlfisher]

Great report! 89 and going strong...good stuff.

[mdrstl]

Great report and thanks for posting. My dad taught me to trout fish at Montauk, not that I listened much or had near his patience for standing in a cold stream, especially after i discovered beer. He taught me to fly fish many years later, staying at the old cabin at ROLF with my brother, brother in law and nephew, then passed away way too young just a few years after that. I'll be fishing with my son/his grandson that he never knew this weekend at Montauk. My son won't be listening to me, but he will be using his grandpa's gear. .

those of us who have been foturnate enough for father/son fishing know the old saying "Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day; teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime" has little to do with food.

[LittleRedFisherman]

Great report, and great stuff!!