Re: [Philmont]: fishing tackle

Mike,

    As we arrived at Fish Camp the morning of June 19th, I saw about 20 fly casting rods leaning against the wall of the cabin where they learned to tie flys. I'm not a fisherman; but these were about 7' long, had the yellow leader, and had that big round reel at the bottom of the handle. Our guys went to fly tying at 1 pm and we Advisors adjourned to the solid cedar, antique rocking chairs on the porch of Rayado Lodge and wondered if we were sitting in the same place Mr. Phillips or Vice President Daws had sat. After contemplating how green green can get on the mountainside facing us and counting the beats of a few hummingbird wings, we awoke from our reverie and noticed the Scouts were long overdue from their class. We found out they had taken the rods, their home-made little fish-catchers, borrowed some others from the classroom, and were strung out all up and down the Agua Fria above the Rayado. They fished their faces off for about 3 hours; caught nothing; but a good time was had by all. Made their day. Smiles abounded.

    The flys were dry or wet; I don't know the difference; but no live bait is used. I noticed a display at the Tooth of Time Traders where you can buy all kinds of flys.

    The Rayado has been re-stocked over the past couple of years with Brown, Brook, and lots of Rainbow trout. Few are larger than 7"; but they'll grow. Once, I thought I saw four Rainbows suspended in mid air in the Agua Fria; but a true fisherman in our Advisor corps pointed out they were just sitting there, motionless, in absolutely clear, mountain water, waiting to feed on (or bite at) whatever came by. The sky at the time was bright blue and the Aspens were shimmering. Must be tough being a fisherperson in Philmont's waters.

Jerry Lewis, 610-M2 2004
Committee Member, Troop 303
McKinney, Texas

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Received on Thu Jun 24 23:36:14 2004