April 21-23, 2017

Rather than chasing turkeys last weekend, my buddy Busch and I met up at Bennett Spring to chase trout.  For the sake of time (both yours and mine) I am going to highlight the important parts of the weekend using bullets to keep things short and concise.

  • Busch arrived around noon on Friday.  It had been raining, it was raining, and it rained the rest of the day.  He was able to catch about 5 fish in the rising, murky water.
  • I arrived at about 6:30 and was able to land 1 fish before 7:30 when the horn sounded.  I was just happy to get a fish on the board with the less-than-ideal conditions.
  • Friday night it rained...HARD.  It looked like a waterfall coming off the roof of Sand Spring Resort.
  • On Saturday morning, the west entrance to the park was closed and the wooden bridge was under water.  I had seen pictures of this but I had never seen this before in person.
  • There weren't a lot of cars/trucks in the parking lot Saturday morning and most folks didn't hang around long.  I think Busch caught a couple above the spillway and I got skunked.  All the usual spots were A LOT deeper, faster, and murky.  
  • We went to some fly shops for advice on where and what to fish.  Megaworms, orange flies, and slack water were the suggestions.
  • I fished the east arch under the bridge at the end of zone 1 and caught five in the early afternoon.
  • I came back and fished with same spot with Busch on Saturday evening.  He caught about 10 or so and I caught 7 more.  This was the hardest I have had to work for 12 fish in A LONG time at Bennett.  
  • I did manage to get into a nice 14" brown.  That was the highlight of the trip for me and made toughing out the wind, the cold, and the rain worth it.
  • More to come tomorrow on what happened on Sunday.  Here's a teaser- the fishing got better...A LOT BETTER!





























After a day of struggling to catch fish due to poor conditions, Busch and I greeted Sunday morning with optimism.  Improving conditions held the chance of a good morning.  The water had dropped, cleared, and slowed down significantly.  The best luck we had came in the same place as the previous day; downstream from the bridge at the end of zone 1 and on the east side of the stream.  We probably caught 40 fish between us that ranged in size from "hatchery escape artists" to a 14" brown that Busch caught.  I also employed the services of my oldest son's Kylo Ren action figure from Star Wars.  He always gets a kick out of these pictures and other folks seem to as well.

In the end, I was extremely glad that Busch and I waited out the tough conditions and made the most of what we had.  While the fishing on Saturday was tough, it was also memorable and the fish we caught were greatly appreciated.  Sunday's fishing was just unbelievable and will be referred to as "one of those mornings" for years to come.  Most importantly however was that I got to spend time with a wonderful friend and shared A LOT of laughs along the way.  I hope you had fun too buddy!











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