Some of you may have noticed I wasn't around for about a week, some may have not. Others, were probably happy. We'll, I'm back, and with a story to tell. Its kind a long one. I accidentally deleted almost 3 days of photos, so many in the beginning were taken by others in our group. I'll start with a photo... The man in the photo is my best friend, Jake's, father. November 2009. It was a public land buck shot in Colorado. He was very proud of it. No one at the time knew it would be his last hunt. Less than two weeks later, he was diagnosed with cancer. The next 12 months are have plenty of ups and downs. Things look good at times, giving everyone hope. Each one seems to be followed by a set back. In late November 2010, he loses his battle with cancer at age 52. Jake is now faced with a tough decision. His father owned a successful brick laying business. With no one in the family to run it, his Mom would struggle for money. Jake, along with his 7 month pregnant wife and 3 year old daughter, make the decision to uproot from Michigan, and move to Colorado. I have to admit, I was bummed about the decision. I knew it was something he had to do though. Over beers, we decided we needed one last road trip. Jake and his father had talked of fishing the White River in Arkansas for a few years. It never happened, and then it was too late. We quickly decided this would be our destination. Plans were made to head down in early February. It would be Jake, my two brothers, and myself. Jake's Dad sported a mustache for as long as anyone knew. It was stellar one at that. We decided in honor of his father, we would grow mustaches. Early February came quick and our things were packed. There was a not-so-good forecast ahead of us, but us Michiganders are familiar with driving in the snow. We departed about 9:30 pm. The snow started to pick up somewhere south of St. Louis. It wasn't until we were off a main highway that the roads were accumulating snow. As the morning got brighter, the snow got heavier. We navigated the snowy mountain roads carefully. Eventually, our destination grew closer. After a few tense moments, we finally arrived at the cabin where another friend was awaiting our arrival. No one had more than an hour and half of sleep, but the wise decision was to go fishing. Okay, maybe not wise, but what else were we going to do? To be continued...
The area was calling for up to 1" of snow. With that prediction, everything was already shut down. It didn't take long to realize 1" was not a good guess. We were smack dab in the middle of a southern blizzard. It didn't take long to net a decent brown. And it never really slowed down. It was almost scary to see how much Jake looked like his Dad with a mustache. Darkness finally falls and we are wore out. Jake has the best streamer fishing day of his life. Its exactly what everyone wanted. I could not have been happier if he landed 100, and us 0. To be continued...
We crashed pretty hard that night. It -10 degrees the next morning. No one was in any hurry to hit the river. We wait until its a balmy 15 degrees, and head to the launch. The water looked great when we got there, but they quickly shut the generation down. It didn't take long for it to drop. Long story short, we didn't fish. Big streamers don't work well in low water. We could have caught fish with other techniques, such as nymphing, but we decided drinking beer was a better option. We rowed to the first private launch and asked to take out there. The boat was anchored in about 2' of water about an hour earlier. Beer and food is consumed into the night. At some point, this is when I deleted my memory card. This was the first photo after deleting. The sun setting behind the cabin. It was another cold morning, but the Norfork River was generating water. We sucked it up and put the boats in. That morning produced one of the heavier frosts I've seen recently. Thats all frost in the trees, no snow. To be continued...
Its a little chilly for stripping streamers, even by my standards, but it was our last day to fish and we had water. It didn't take long to get into some decent fish. And eventually the sun got a little higher and started to warm the air. We landed plenty of trout before the day was over. Nothing huge, but plenty of decent fish. I lost one big one early on, but thats the way it goes. The rest of night is a celebration of Jake's Father's life. The man will be missed. The End.
One more photo. There is a town in Arkansas named Three Brothers. Posing for a photo seemed like the right thing to do.
Great read Vito. You guys picked a beautiful area to fish, my father lives very close to where you guys were fishing.
Great Tribute Matt, your a good friend. How sad, he was so young, it just don't seem fair. Glad to see you all made the best out of what many would have called a bad trip with the weather and all. The pictures are great. I'll see you on the River the first week of May? Were coming home!
Hell yes! Can't wait. By far my favorite trip of the year. Planning to be on the river the 5th, 6th, and 7th.
Cancer is really unfair. Great writeup, and the pictures were great as well. Thanks for the good read.
