Comments (2)

By MattTucker, December 26, 2011 8:17 pm

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

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

Comments (0)

By MattTucker, November 6, 2011 12:29 pm

I just logged in to the site after a long summer hiatus and found this post that I hadn’t finished up from April 2011.  Because of the length of time, I am going to leave the post as-is, and just add the photos from the trip……after all the photos and Hannah’s write up are where it is at.

===============================

Oh the things we do for our daughters.  This weekend, it involved driving down to Mountain Home, Arkansas from St. Louis, Missouri to spend about 4 1/2 hours on Dry Run Creek, a truly magical place, with my 9yo Daughter Hannah and my very good friend (and a helluva net man), Brent McClane, before heading back to St. Louis for dinner on Saturday.

To put it simply, the fishing was phenomenal.  Hannah has really seemed to take to mending line (perhaps sometimes too much), but on this day it was what was needed.

In keeping with tradition, below is Hannah’s account of the fishing trip.

Hannah’s Fishing Story

By: Hannah Tucker

Dry Run Creek, AR

 

It started when I got home from school Friday. I ate two snicker doodles before we left. Then we left—we were on the road. We could not find a restaurant, so Dad and Brent said, “We should go to Missouri Hicks.” It was good! I had a pulled pork sandwich with sweet and spicy sauce, with good mac and cheese. I got two giant cookies. Then we left.

We were on the road again. I fell asleep and had to listen to Dave Matthews Band. I hate Dave Matthews Band. We got to the hotel. We went to sleep.

The next morning Brent’s clock was set wrong. That was really bad. We had to go to Western Sizzler for breakfast. I wanted chocolate-covered mini donuts. But I got voted out. It was o.k. I had a biscuit and bacon. F.Y.I., I love love love bacon. We got done. We were on our way.

We got down there and put on waders and our necklaces. I was ready to go. I fish to a fish and I got it! I was pulling back the rod, and I got a fish! It wasn’t that big, but that’s o.k. I caught a bit more, and then moved down the stream. Dad bet me $5 [I would get a fish]. And I got it. He still owes me my other $5 from the last trip.

O.k., back to the action! Now there’s a giant fish…1, 2, 3…wow, 3 big fish! I caught the smallest fish out of three. I caught a couple more fish. I went to go set down my rod and Brent was coming and he didn’t know it was there and he accidently stepped on my rod. But it was my fault because I put my rod there. But I still kept fishing…

Then I caught the biggest fish of all! I was so excited! And on a broken rod. I was doing my happy dance! It was so heavy I almost dropped it. But I didn’t. Thank goodness. That would be bad. Dad took some pics and I went back to fishing. I caught the two biggest fish. It wasn’t the best fish. The best fish was the one I caught before. It was still big.

We went home. It took a long time, but we were home. THE END.

 

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]