Our last day.
We need to check out of the cabin no later than 11:00 am. We got up again at 6:30 am. T said she was feeling better and wanted to try again. We got ready and went back to the same spot downstream of the spring.
Again, the water was cold and fast moving. Plowing through it is a pretty good work out. T dawned her waders today. There were more people out this morning, being Friday, some were probably playing hookie. We got our lines in the water just after the 7:30 am siren. As time went on, more people showed up and we were not having any luck. For the first time, I did actually see a fish caught by another angler. T was tiring and so was I. We called it off about 9:00 am and headed back to pack and check out.
We got home without incident around 12:30 pm. While we did not catch anything, we had a good time and it was nice to get away from the house for a few days.
Friday, September 23, 2016
Day 4, Thursday September 22, 2016: Montauk State Park
The alarm went off at 6:30 am. I got up and started to get ready to go. T did not sleep well and is still not well. She encouraged me to go ahead without her. I did. I went back to the area we were started in on Tuesday. I was in the water and ready to cast when the siren went off indicating that fishing for the day had begun.
I was only out for about three hours with the same overall results as Tuesday. One change was that I actually had a strike today. On just my second or so cast, a fish hit the lure and promptly ate the lure. When I pulled the line in, the fly was gone. I chalked it up to improper knot tying on my part. But, it gave me hope that this was the type of fly they would hit this morning. I tied on a new fly (in fact I tried several different flies) but I did not get another strike.
I went back to the cabin for lunch and to check on T. She was still feeling poorly so we stayed in the rest of the day.
In the evening, like clockwork, we went over to the lodge to get our tags for the last day.
I was only out for about three hours with the same overall results as Tuesday. One change was that I actually had a strike today. On just my second or so cast, a fish hit the lure and promptly ate the lure. When I pulled the line in, the fly was gone. I chalked it up to improper knot tying on my part. But, it gave me hope that this was the type of fly they would hit this morning. I tied on a new fly (in fact I tried several different flies) but I did not get another strike.
I went back to the cabin for lunch and to check on T. She was still feeling poorly so we stayed in the rest of the day.
In the evening, like clockwork, we went over to the lodge to get our tags for the last day.
Day 3, Wednesday September 21, 2016: Montauk State Park
Another pretty morning, but T is quite ill this morning with some sort of tummy trouble. Not going to go out this morning.
We were hoping she would be better in the afternoon, but she wasn't. So, we just lazed around the cabin and let her rest.
The plan at the end of the day was to get up around 6:30 am and get over to the same spot we were at on Tuesday (just downstream of the spring) and catch the fish having breakfast.
Again, around 6:30 pm, we went to the lodge and bought our tags for the next day. T seems to be feeling better. We also picked up another hand net and stringer (we only had one of each) for all those trout we would be catching tomorrow.
We were hoping she would be better in the afternoon, but she wasn't. So, we just lazed around the cabin and let her rest.
The plan at the end of the day was to get up around 6:30 am and get over to the same spot we were at on Tuesday (just downstream of the spring) and catch the fish having breakfast.
Again, around 6:30 pm, we went to the lodge and bought our tags for the next day. T seems to be feeling better. We also picked up another hand net and stringer (we only had one of each) for all those trout we would be catching tomorrow.
Day 2, Tuesday September 20, 2016: Montauk State Park
We had no grandiose plans for this trip except to relax and enjoy a little fishing. Around 5:00 am this morning, I was awakened to the large “pop”. My first reaction was that it was just the ice machine dumping its load of ice. Then I remembered we don’t have an ice maker in the cabin. I listened intently for several seconds and, not hearing anything more, went back to sleep. The balcony on our cabin faces southeast so that the morning sun serves as our wake up call. Around 7:00 am I arose to start breakfast. We are having bacon and basted eggs. I started the coffee and opened the door to the refrigerator. There I discovered the source of the “pop” I heard at 5:00 am. One of T’s bottles of sparkling water had exploded. The interior of the refrigerator was littered with glass fragments and frozen sparkling water. Interestingly, nothing else seemed frozen. There was a case of soda sitting right next to the doomed bottle of water and it was fine. My theory is that the bottle of water was sitting just in front of where the cold air comes into the compartment. Anyway, it could have been worse…it could have been a bottle of Champagne.
I got the coffee and bacon going. T got up and showed me the proper technique for basting eggs. We finished breakfast and left for the Montauk Spring at 8:30 am. Fishing officially is between 7:30 am and 7:15 pm in September at the park. We did not know how crowded it would be. It wasn’t crowded at all.
We started on the segment of the current river just downstream of the Montauk spring. This is a fly fishing only section with fast moving cold water. The depth of the stream, for the most part, allows you to wade into it up to your waist. We found a good looking spot. There were a lot of fish in the water. You just wanted to reach in and grab them...but that's not fair or legal. We started fishing and spent the remainder of the morning re-learning the techniques of fly fishing. T lost two flies. I lost none but spent a good portion of my time repeatedly untangling my line. We saw quite a number of fish but they apparently were not hungry for what we had to offer. T said she got a few nibbles. Whenever I cast my lure in among the fish, they all just scattered. I got to test out my new waders. They did well. T when “au naturel”, not using waders but just shorts and her new shoes. She said the water was exhilarating.
By 11:30 am, the sun was bearing down on us and we were tired from wading through the fast moving water. We packed up and headed back to the cabin for a rest and lunch. T got to hold up the result of our first morning out.
I got the coffee and bacon going. T got up and showed me the proper technique for basting eggs. We finished breakfast and left for the Montauk Spring at 8:30 am. Fishing officially is between 7:30 am and 7:15 pm in September at the park. We did not know how crowded it would be. It wasn’t crowded at all.
We started on the segment of the current river just downstream of the Montauk spring. This is a fly fishing only section with fast moving cold water. The depth of the stream, for the most part, allows you to wade into it up to your waist. We found a good looking spot. There were a lot of fish in the water. You just wanted to reach in and grab them...but that's not fair or legal. We started fishing and spent the remainder of the morning re-learning the techniques of fly fishing. T lost two flies. I lost none but spent a good portion of my time repeatedly untangling my line. We saw quite a number of fish but they apparently were not hungry for what we had to offer. T said she got a few nibbles. Whenever I cast my lure in among the fish, they all just scattered. I got to test out my new waders. They did well. T when “au naturel”, not using waders but just shorts and her new shoes. She said the water was exhilarating.
By 11:30 am, the sun was bearing down on us and we were tired from wading through the fast moving water. We packed up and headed back to the cabin for a rest and lunch. T got to hold up the result of our first morning out.
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| Morning's Catch |
We planned to go back out after lunch, but we were both tired and T was not feeling very well. So, we just relaxed the remainder of the afternoon.
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| Balcony |
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| Grill where all the trout will be cooked |
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| Swarm of buzzards overhead |
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| Deer in the parking lot |
For dinner, T made chow mein. We went over to the lodge around 6:30 pm and purchased our tags for tomorrow.
Day 1, Monday September 19, 2016: Montauk State Park
Today we started our week-long adventure to the Motauk State Park. Montauk is one of several trout parks in Missouri. We visited Montauk once before and stayed one night in one of their cabins. We did no fishing, but swore we would be back. This week we are back. We will be staying four nights in one of their two bedroom cabins with full kitchen and fireplace. While the temperature is supposed to be in the mid-80s this week, the fireplace will add a charm to the cabin.
It is roughly 150 miles from our place to the park. We left today around noon. The trip down I-44 was uneventful. We got of the Interstate at Rolla and drove the last 50 miles on State and County highways to the park. We stopped once in Cuba, MO and picked up some BBQ from our favorite BBQ place (Missouri Hickory). We met the owner. T told him that we always stopped anytime we passed by. He was very proud. We also stopped in Rolla to pick up some items at the grocery. We have plenty of food for the week.
We got to the park around 3:30pm. Since 3:00pm was check-in time, we immediately went to the lodge and got our cabin keys. We were put in C28. It is a quadruplet cabin and we had one of the two second floor “cabins”. Nice accommodation. While we had previously purchased our MO fishing licenses, we still need to purchase a daily trout tag. The guy at the lodge said they would start selling the next day’s tags at 6:15pm each day at the lodge.
After getting moved in, we relaxed for a bit and at some of the BBQ we picked up in Cuba. We then drove around the park, making our plans for the next day. It was about 6:00pm when we headed back to the lodge. We decided we probably needed to check our gear just in case we forgot something. T had already realized she did not bring any footwear appropriate for wading in the fast moving streams. It was a good thing we checked because we discovered we did not bring any of our flies. Therefore, in addition to our trout tags, we also bought T a pair of shoes and five pairs of flies.
We retired to the room, had a quick dinner of frozen mozzarella balls and went to bed early.
It is roughly 150 miles from our place to the park. We left today around noon. The trip down I-44 was uneventful. We got of the Interstate at Rolla and drove the last 50 miles on State and County highways to the park. We stopped once in Cuba, MO and picked up some BBQ from our favorite BBQ place (Missouri Hickory). We met the owner. T told him that we always stopped anytime we passed by. He was very proud. We also stopped in Rolla to pick up some items at the grocery. We have plenty of food for the week.
We got to the park around 3:30pm. Since 3:00pm was check-in time, we immediately went to the lodge and got our cabin keys. We were put in C28. It is a quadruplet cabin and we had one of the two second floor “cabins”. Nice accommodation. While we had previously purchased our MO fishing licenses, we still need to purchase a daily trout tag. The guy at the lodge said they would start selling the next day’s tags at 6:15pm each day at the lodge.
After getting moved in, we relaxed for a bit and at some of the BBQ we picked up in Cuba. We then drove around the park, making our plans for the next day. It was about 6:00pm when we headed back to the lodge. We decided we probably needed to check our gear just in case we forgot something. T had already realized she did not bring any footwear appropriate for wading in the fast moving streams. It was a good thing we checked because we discovered we did not bring any of our flies. Therefore, in addition to our trout tags, we also bought T a pair of shoes and five pairs of flies.
We retired to the room, had a quick dinner of frozen mozzarella balls and went to bed early.
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