Small pond on the property of Summerfield Farms Fly-Fishing 101 was the required textbook side of Flint Creek Outfitter's fly-fishing education program. Five of the NCLA members got together as a unit and attended that class a couple of weeks ago in preparation for a genuine hands-on fly-fishing field trip, otherwise called Fly-Fishing 201. Four of the original group of five came back two weeks later to get that practical experience on the water. It's not often that they have an experienced, well-qualified instructor be at their beck-&-call for hours on end. This was their chance to improve their fly-fishing catch and release technique.
Still wiping the sleep from their eyes as they finished downing their portable thermos of unfinished coffee from home, the gals all met up at the Flint Creek Outfitters store in Ocala, Florida at the dreaded early morning hour of7:30 a.m. on Saturday, July 27th. Two of the girls had the additional challenge of driving all the way from Crystal River. The store wasn't even open yet and here were four ladies amid an equal number of guys milling outside the store before it even opened waiting for their fearless leader, David Hulsey, to escort them over to some place he called Summerfield Farms in Morriston, Florida where the farm owners, Francis & Barbara Vanlangendonck, had graciously allowed them to use their stocked (bass, blue-gill and perch) pond for fly-fishing practice. The women all climbed into one vehicle and followed behind David's truck as he led them on the 20 mile ride, discussing their hopes and expectations for the morning..
Still wiping the sleep from their eyes as they finished downing their portable thermos of unfinished coffee from home, the gals all met up at the Flint Creek Outfitters store in Ocala, Florida at the dreaded early morning hour of7:30 a.m. on Saturday, July 27th. Two of the girls had the additional challenge of driving all the way from Crystal River. The store wasn't even open yet and here were four ladies amid an equal number of guys milling outside the store before it even opened waiting for their fearless leader, David Hulsey, to escort them over to some place he called Summerfield Farms in Morriston, Florida where the farm owners, Francis & Barbara Vanlangendonck, had graciously allowed them to use their stocked (bass, blue-gill and perch) pond for fly-fishing practice. The women all climbed into one vehicle and followed behind David's truck as he led them on the 20 mile ride, discussing their hopes and expectations for the morning..
Gathering around the equipment. They pulled off to the side of the road just as David had and it was clear that they had reached their destination. They got out of the truck and gathered around him as he dropped his tail-gate and began to pull fly rods out of the back of his truck. To their surprise, another lady had joined the group. Connie, they learned, had gone to an earlier Fly-Fishing 101 class at Flint Creek Outfitters sometime back in June and due to schedule conflicts hadn't had the chance to do Fly-Fishing 201 until now....so....here she was. The women outnumbered the men 2 to 1. What were the odds of that?
Decisions....Decisions... David handed each of the girls a 9 weight fly rod and then on the tailgate, he opened up a small green case with about 40 different hand made flies for them to chose from. Some resembled bumble bees, some looked like crickets, and then others looked like house flies. One even looked like a little spider - crafty !
This one looked like a cricket although it's not a very good photo.
David suggested something more along this line.
Fly-Fishing 101 Review The fly rods had already been spooled with line so all the girls had to do was select a bright, shiny, eye-catching, (and hopefully fish catching) fly lure among the spread David had laid out and tie it to the tippet line. Everyone carefully examined the selection and made their choice but seemed to hesitate a bit when it came to actually tying it on. David, sensing their reluctance to tie their flies on, offered to demonstrate how to tie on the fly using an improved clinch knot. He began his demonstration on Kathy's rod. Then Virginia wanted him to repeat that demo on her rod as well. Before he knew it, they all moved a little closer to him with line in one hand and fly in the other and he had tied a fly for each of them. It just seemed logical to let the professional tie the flies on. He was much faster at tying a secure knot and why invite potential frustration due to inexperience when you didn't have to? After a few friendly reminders from David, the ladies were instructed to spread out around the pond and pick a spot to begin.
The morning started off with lots of wind knots. Kathy, here, along with every other women in the group spent much of the morning perfecting her knot un-tying skills which was often and seemed to come a little bit more natural to the female species due to many a long hour untying jewelry knots. That being said - it seemed like every other cast ended up in a minor bird's nest until they developed the rhythm of the 10:00 / 2:00 position cast.
It was a waiting game The sun was shining bright, there wasn't a breeze to be felt, and the pond was as flat as a sheet of glass. After about an hour of working past the bad casting techniques, the ladies began to play a waiting game with those pond fish who somehow had a keen sense of awareness that it was Saturday, yet again - another new set of 'wanna-be' fly-fishers here to fool them into thinking they knew what they were doing. Those fish literally 'weren't biting'. Virginia chanted "Patience is a virtue...patience is a virtue...patience is a .......", etc. 99% of the morning was spent like this.
Alice's big catch But, of course, leave it to Alice to be the one to break the silence. There she was, just minding her own business, stripping her line in every few seconds, when all of a sudden her fly went under water. "I got something", she shouted. All eyes turned in her direction with a faint tint of jealousy mixed with admiration. She landed this nice bluegill which ended up being the biggest fish caught out of the pond that day. The girls were really excited for her and it made the trip worthwhile.
By 10:30 a.m., David had reluctantly informed the group that their allotted time at the pond was at an end. No one really wanted to leave, but at the same time, everyone knew that the heat from the sun had forced the fish into the center and deepest depth of the pond. The flies they had tied on just weren't going to be enough to lure them to the surface during that time of the day. The ladies loaded up and followed David back to Flint Creek Outfitters slightly disappointed that they hadn't caught more fish, but thankful to be given the time and space to practice their fly casting skills among friends who were all in the learning stages of this sport.
By the time everyone arrived back in Ocala, it was close to noon. The girls shopped around the store for about 15 minutes or so. While the rest of the group struck up a conversation with Connie, the lone female in a previous class of guys, Kathy put in her order for a simple 'starter' fly-fish combo that David was going to set up for her and Virginia picked up a few items to get her back in the craft of tying flies. It took David about a half an hour to rig Kathy's gear so the five women decided to have lunch together at a nearby restaurant to get to know Connie a little bit better and give her some insight into what the Nature Coast Lady Anglers was all about. There weren't many fish caught on a fly this day, but everyone gained a new friend - that made for a great day after all.
By the time everyone arrived back in Ocala, it was close to noon. The girls shopped around the store for about 15 minutes or so. While the rest of the group struck up a conversation with Connie, the lone female in a previous class of guys, Kathy put in her order for a simple 'starter' fly-fish combo that David was going to set up for her and Virginia picked up a few items to get her back in the craft of tying flies. It took David about a half an hour to rig Kathy's gear so the five women decided to have lunch together at a nearby restaurant to get to know Connie a little bit better and give her some insight into what the Nature Coast Lady Anglers was all about. There weren't many fish caught on a fly this day, but everyone gained a new friend - that made for a great day after all.
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