The holiday break often affords me with time to catch up on some past trip reports.  The 2011 Christmas Holiday was much the same, and in keeping with that tradition I will wind back to a trip Hannah and I took on November 19, 2011 to Dry Run Creek.  These trips to Arkansas are something that I will always remember, so often than not it is the trip that we actually remember more than the fishing, and this trip was no different.

We started this trip, late on a Friday night after rolling out of St. Louis and were in Mountain Home by 11pm or so.  Up early and off to the stream, we found ourselves to be the only ones there for the first hour or two.  It was a magical hour or two as well.  Hannah is really starting to come in to her own with fishing, we will next work on tying on the flies and knots, but from hook set to release, it is all her.  She caught and released numerous fish, including a really nice Cutthroat.

The entire Wise Family (Brian Wise, Jenny Wise, Parker Wise, and Carter Wise) caught up with us on the stream around 9am or so and we continued to catch up as the kids fished.  It is nice to have another adult/kid combo on trips as sometimes Hannah will get bored with fishing with me and it is fun to swap around and fish with another youngster.  Today was no different, and Hannah quickly jumped at the opportunity to fish with Brian and Parker with me.

Parker is a little fly fishing stud.  The kid can fish and is intent on fishing. The kids fished for a few more hours with many more fish brought to hand and released.  The kids were getting tired and Hannah and I were going to break for lunch and drive back to St. Louis that afternoon, so we headed towards Mountain Home and had a nice lunch with the Wise family and were on our way back to St. Louis by 3pm or so.  It was another satisfying trip.  Lots of photos were taken, and Hannah even made an appearance in Brian Wise’s 2011 Fall Fly Fishing Video.

But as with the more recent Dry Run Creek trip reports, it wouldn’t be a report without Hannah’s version:

Fishing Story November 18/19,11

By:  Hannah Tucker

Me and my dad left are house about 4:45. We were on the road for fifteen minutes and my dad almost hit a deer. But luckily we did not hit the deer.  It was like a miracle. I thought we were going to hit it .My dad put on the brakes and we made it .He said ‘If we had hit that deer, our fishing trip would have ended and we would have to call uncle Dan to pick us up, and trust me I did not want that to happen.  We kept on driving I fell asleep. When I woke up dad said’ what do you want for dinner?  I said I don’t care.  Dad said the same thing. So we went to Arby’s. We went through the drive through and got back on the road. I was about to go to sleep when we were listening to Jonny Cash.  We got to Ramada Inn and I was so tired.  I got in my p-jays and fell onto the bed. I couldn’t sleep at first because dad had the TV on. He finally turned off the TV.  When I woke up I got dressed and we went down to the lobby to get WESTERN SIZZLIN coupons. We went to eat and they did not have the buffet.  Dad asked the one of the staff and she said they were not open to the public.  So me and dad left and went to a different place.  Once we left that place we went to Dry Run Creek. We got on are waders and boots.  We got down to the creek and started  fishing.  I caught some small fish, mostly browns.  My dad was looking through his fly box  and wanted to do  something new.  He put on a yellow Sally.  And I caught a 23 inch cut throat.  It had the most beautiful orange stripes on the bottom of its mouth. Me and my dad went back to the car to take off our jackets.  Went back down to the stream to fish and it was like catch ,unhook, release, catch, unhook, release over and over.  I just kept catching fish.  Brian, Jenny, Parker, and Carter came to fish with us too.  We switched off so that Parker went with my dad and I went with Parker’s dad.  Brian couldn’t believe that the yellow sally was that good.  I kept catching fish.  The total of all the fish I had caught  so far was 36.  Is that awesome or what?  We went up the stream again and spotted a big brown.  It was huge. I fished to it, but sadly it was not eating.  I  fished to some more fish and my lucky hook  got stuck in the tree.  So I could not put it on my hook Keeper thingy migiger.  I fished a little bit more.  We walked back down the creek. We saw a fish with a eel thing on it. My dad told me to catch it so that he could  take that eal thing off.  Sadly I did not catch it.  We went back to the car and got in our regular clothes and went to lunch with Brian, Jenny, Parker, and Carter.  After that we went home.  The End.

It is funny the things that she remembers and the things that I have forgotten on these trips; such as the deer, the lamprey eel, or the breakfast.  Oh to be young again.  Until next time.

–Matt Tucker

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