The BEST Bennett Trip Ever (Part 4). The Final Chapter!

Saturday night, after dinner with the guys, I slept.  I slept deep, I barely moved during the night, and slept as if I had been in the outdoors all day doing something that I loved.  Now in my usual day to day grind that is family, work, and responsibilities, the sound of an alarm clock brings on emotions of anger, sadness, and something that is a combination of the two.  However, on this particular day, it was remarkably easy to get out of bed with enthusiasm and vigor.  While Busch had to go home Saturday night, Austin, Pat, and I started preparing to head to the stream like it was something that we had done for five consecutive days.  We rocked out to some Def Leppard "Rock of Ages" on the way and were reminded that Austin is REALLY young.  Here are the boys for your listening pleasure including a one armed drummer.  That never ceases to amaze me!  A ONE ARMED DRUMMER!

I agree with Joe Elliot that it is indeed better to burn out than fade away, but there would be no burning out today my friends.  We approached day 2 with the same tenacity of day 1.  We were in the water about ten minutes before the horn sounded and were ready to fish.  At one point we started to think that the horn-blowing-fish-starter guy had slept in, but when the horn DID go off, Austin had a fish on before the sound dispersed...again.  Pat quickly hooked up as well and we were awfully close to having a triple but Austin lands his fish too fast.  Darn him and his trout stream ethics.  A little joint stiffness and muscle fatigue would do that kid some good.

At some point in the morning, Pat landed a REALLY nice 15-16 inch rainbow that he was pretty proud of and should have been.  I say he was proud of it but it wasn't in a "Hey guys, look at me" kind of way.  It was the smile on his face and the way he said, "Yeah, that was a pretty good one."  That's about all of the bragging that you will ever get out of Pat.

Anywho, fishing was good and our spirits were soaring.  Austin caught a nice 15-16 inch rainbow and I caught a few pretty fish as well.  I was particularly impressed by this pretty male that had the cool kype and spts on almost every inch of him.  Austin snapped a good picture that resembled a picture of that I took of one of his fish yesterday.  We called his picture Troutasaurus so I guess mine was Troutasaurs II.  What a cool looking fish!  The genetic variations on trout always amaze me and I never get tired of seeing all of the colors, spots, and combinations of the two along with differences in body types between males and females.

With all of that being said about Rainbows (and I mean every word), I still prefer catching browns to rainbows.  I always have, and always will.  There are so many reasons why browns are, in my opinion, the prettiest freshwater fish on the planet.  The dark backs, the butterscotch bellies, and dark spots that only make the red spots pop even more, and don't get me started on the white halos around the spots.  Browns got it all in terms of outer beauty, but there is an inner mystique about them as well.  While brook trout can rival their color, the attitude, aloofness, and aggression of browns put them on a whole different level.  I think a lot of my respect for this species is that they are much rarer on the streams and parks that I fish and I have yet to catch a brown that is 20 inches or better.  Also, in my first 12 or so years of fishing at Bennett, I think I caught one brown.  In the last 12 months however, I bet I am nearing 20 browns in the park and just outside the park on the Niangua.  Almost all of these have been hooked below the spillway, but on this second magical morning, I was able to land a rare (for me) brown above the spillway.  Again, it wasn't a monster but sure didn't care.  It was my favorite fish, it put up a great fight, and it only added to the variety of the weekend.

Now you might be thinking, "Tyler, you can't have any more luck light that.  That's crazy!"  I would respond, "You can now."  Alright, I'm sorry.  That sounded boastful.  The truth is, I just wanted to work that phrase in so I could include this hilarious commercial.  My wife is about to pull her hair out because I keep quoting it so I had to find a new outlet for my obsession.  I'm sorry if you don't find it funny but I couldn't keep it inside any longer.

All joking aside, Lady Luck had a little something left for me and it came in a small piece of metal with an arbitrary number stamped on it.  That's right, I caught another tagged fish in pretty much the same place as I caught the first one.  And since karma was smiling on me, I decided to smile back and promised Austin that I would let him claim any prize that came along with it...but I wanted the tag back!  He got some sweet Rio 5 weight fly line and I DID get my tag back.  Oh yeah, oops.  Spoiler alert or something.  Did I do that right.  Oh well, to heck with it.  I never was any good at being trendy.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Pat, Austin, and I kept a few fish to give to some of my coworkers that like fish.  I think they're gross, but to each his own.  Anyway, sine the stormtrooper and bluegill pictures went so well with my son recently, I decided to bring along an evil, sadistic bounty hunter that has a cult following.  That's right, my son loaned me his Boba Fett action figure and these pictures turned out just as well as the last ones.  Boba Fett, you are a sick and twisted soul.  Also, if you choose to try this with you kids or just for fun, be prepared to get some weird looks from bystanders.

So we (Pat, Austin, Boba, and I) were cleaning some fish when I noticed a guy out of the corner of my eye that was just slaying the fish.  When what to my wandering eyes should appear, but a guy with a fly rod that looked a whole lot like Santa Claus.  He cast with precision and his hook sets were quick.  I knew in a moment that it must have been Saint Nick.  This guy not only looked the part, but acted the part too.  He posed for pictures, talked to anyone that walked by and even gave me a token to give to my son that said "naughty" on one side and "nice" on the other.  He said that the could could be left with the milk and cookies, and if the "nice" side was facing up, then presents would be left.  I shutter to think what happens with the naughty side.  I never did catch his real name, but he was a very sweet man and if I could thank him again, I gladly would.

We stopped fishing at about 10:30 so we could clean the fish, check out of the room at Sand Spring, and get to the raffle by noon.  Things went according to plan and we were headed back to the park when we saw some flashing lights near the park entrance.  We pulled up behind a park ranger that had his rear hatch opened.  We could see that he was returning from the car that was pulled over in front of him and he was carrying something.  As he loaded the olived colored Yeti cooler into his vehicle, we realized that someone must have been over their limit of fish and to add insult to injury, lost a $300 cooler in the process.  Ouch!

Finally, we arrived at the dining hall for the raffle and it was packed.  There was a table that was full of things from the park store like puzzles, shirts, blankets, and such but there were also ultra light spinning combos, fly line, vests, and even fly rods.  It became apparent that numbers were being pulled from a container and being read out loud along with the person's name that turned in the tag.  As I mentioned earlier, Austin won some fly line and my name didn't get called for a while.  I was starting to get concerned that I was going to end up with a Thomas Kinkead puzzle, but then my nerves were eased when my name was called and a few fly rods and fly lines were left on the table.  After a little debate, I decided on a 9 foot, 5 weight fly rod that said "J. Rogers Outfitters" on the side.  I almost went for some line but my oldest son does not have his first fly rod yet, and referencing the commercial from earlier "He does now!"  I am going to have Pat write on the side of the rod in a paint pen "Lucky" before I hand it over to him.  I figure it is only fitting with all of the events of the weekend and what had to transpire to get that rod.  I even got my tags back and didn't have to do something illegal to acquire them.  Even luckier.

As I said at the start of this incredibly long post, this was one of the most memorable trips to Bennett that I have ever had.  However, when you strip everything down to its core, it was fun because I was with friends, catching fish, and reconnecting with nature as well as my faith.  But that's what fishing is all about anyway isn't it?  It just so happened that I came home with some good pictures, a couple of small pieces of stamped metal, and a couple new fly rods to pass on to the next generation of fly fishermen.  I guess I kind of felt like this: