John Berry
(870) 435-2169
www.berrybrothersguides.comWe decided to wait it out. A guide’s first job is the safety of his clients and the only safe thing to do was relax and watch the storm hit around us, from the comfort of the shelter.
It turned into a bit of a social event. I chatted with my clients at great length. They were from my old home town, Memphis, and we had plenty to talk about. I also talked with all of the guides. They are a generally congenial bunch and it seems like we do not get enough time together. We always talk at the ramp when we are launching or wave to each other when we pass on the river. Now we had a couple of hours to swap fishing stories. I discussed the success of the recent TU conservation Banquet with Clint.
Jimmy T. gave me a fly. He has just developed a new pattern, the Barbie Midge, and it shows promise. I eagerly accepted it and put it away for later, when I will have the opportunity to fish it myself. This is how we all become better guides, by sharing our new flies or techniques with others.
The sky finally cleared and the lightning ceased. I went out and bailed my river boat and launched it. We were eager to fish. I was concerned about how the fishing would go after the front passed through. I had no need to be concerned. We were into fish fairly quickly. I changed flies for a while until we zeroed in on the black zebra midge in size fourteen. We tried plenty of others, but this one was producing.
We caught some nice trout. They were all rainbows except for one small brown. Most were in the fourteen to sixteen inch slot. Brandon landed a fat eighteen inch trout and somehow managed to hook a four incher. This is much smaller than anything stocked. I think that there is a certain amount of natural reproduction that takes place with the rainbows.
As we were drifting down through a particularly productive section, Bill hit a really good fish. As soon as it hit the fly, he took a powerful run toward us. As he neared the boat, he made a magnificent leap and I was able to get a really good look at him. He was a male rainbow well over twenty inches long, fat and sassy. When he hit the water the line went slack. Bill pulled in his line and the leader connection had failed.
The night before Bill had tied a section of red Amnesia (a stiff monofilament) to his line with a nail knot and then tied a perfection loop in the tag end of the monofilament. When I had rigged his line that morning I had connected the leader to the Amnesia with a loop to loop connection. The nail knot had failed. A knot had prevented Bill from landing a trophy trout. I attached a braided loop connector to Bill’s fly line and then connected a leader to the fly line with a loop to loop connection. I had him fully rigged and back in the water in a matter of minutes.
I have moved past nail knots. They are difficult to tie and must be done just so. All of the better fly lines are now coming with a welded loop in the end and you just tie a perfection loop in the end of your leader and attach it to the line with a loop to loop connection. If a client’s line does not have a loop I use the braided loop connection. I have never had one fail.
We continued fishing and caught more fish. I kept them out longer than usual to make up for the late start. We were the last ones off the river. As we drove back to the lodge, we thought of all the fish we landed and the big one that got away.
