Reunited !!! (With Spring 2016 Epic Video)!!!

“Reunited and it feels so good”!

If you are under thirty years old you are probably wondering if this was one of those cheesy 70’s pop love songs, and if you are over thirty than you are sure it was one of those 70’s cheesy pop songs.  I wanted to start by thanking you all for checking in at The O’Grady Fly Fishing Adventures blog. It sure has been an absolutely incredible spring here on the Ark. I hate to admit it but after the flood waters of last summer and the high dirty water of last fall, at times I began to worry about the health of our river. As spring rolled in, I anxiously awaited to finally get a great look at the river and boy was I thrilled. I have seen (not caught unfortunately) fish that are over 25 inches and I have landed more 17 to 22 inch absolute perfect bows than I can try to count. The river is in better condition than maybe I have ever seen, and yes that includes the “Glory Days” of 07 through 11.

Now onto the goofy Peaches and Herb song; I have been lucky enough and abetted enough to have been thoroughly involved with this sport for over 15 years. I have been lucky enough to watch my incredible wife catch her first fish on a fly rod, and then see her obsession turn into not only a profession for her but me as well. Reunited comes into play as we turn our attention to the tools of the trade. When Cat first became addicted to fly fishing, she had just encouraged me to purchase my first high end fly rod, it was a Sage XP. Being the uninformed sexist that I am, the first rod I purchased for Cat was a Sage Light Line. She tried it out a few times but I could see that it was too slow for her and she moved into the same XP that I had been fishing. It was perfect for us because we could absolutely rapid fire at fish, side by side, as we made our way up our favorite creek. I still remember those calls to each other, “that was number 79, what are you at”? The competitiveness for numbers and beauty continued on but the camaraderie with our tools stood for years. Well we both drifted a little and our obsession with competitiveness became more about each other’s rods and less about the fish. As most of you know, I made my way back to Sage a couple of years ago and Cat made it back early this year. Reunited and it feels so good! A warning to the fish, our team is now focused on just you.

Cat has recently been asked to be part of the Sage Elite Pro team and after this spring fishing the One, she jumped at the chance. Reunited and it feels so good. It is such an honor to be part of the greatest fly rod company in the world. I hope all of our readers get a chance to congratulate Cat on being a Sage Elite Pro, the honor is well deserved and a little overdue.

The video we are putting out is of the river this spring. Due to surgery, a cold and a lot of guide trips, we didn’t get to fish as much as we wanted, but after going through some of the footage, we were reminded of what even a small amount of time on the Ark can produce. One of the great things about going through the footage is seeing things that you never saw on the river (the lady at the bridge comes to mind; Taylor 2014). This year’s surprise comes in the third clip when out of nowhere I see a small submarine make its way up a sand bar, just out of my fishing line of sight, smart fish. The Sage Accel and the Sage One with the 4250 reel did the dirty work for the video. Cat and just sat back, and enjoyed the process. Winston was once again overjoyed with the chance to close out the video, so make sure you watch until the end.

If you had noticed the river come up the other day, it doesn’t mean that all is lost. I’m not an expert, but I do play one in our fishing videos, but I can’t imagine the water staying this all the way till runoff. My best guess, and it is only an educated guess, is that the flows will bounce back and forth between 400 and 1100cfs until runoff hits. And yes the river is fishable at 1100cfs, just be smart, safe, and wise. The midges have been hatching on and off all day, and BWO can be seen popping in the late afternoon. Fish are mostly done spawning and have starting turning their focus to eating.

As Always,  Connell, Cat, Winston, Bandor, Peaches and Herb, and The Drift Fly want to thank you for reading……