Manitees, Pirouettes, and Custom Rods OH MY!

During my guiding career I can honestly say I have been crazy blessed with really good people to take down the river.  In the 8 years I have been at this there are only 4 people I will never be on the river with again and chances are they feel the same way (and they won't be reading this either.)  Some trips are just a ton of fun though....like fishing with buddies.  I recently had one of those trips. 

I had been in contact with this guy from Chicago for a couple of months by phone and email with you know, regular stuff, "Meet me here at this time" kind of stuff.  But during one of our conversations over the phone it was brought up that we were going to get along great...I'm sure it had something to do with Micro-Brews or my loud mouth or something like that.

As I walked into the guys cabin for the weekend (they stayed at the Tree House at River of Life) I noticed Loomis gear everywhere, caps, jackets, rods.  We hit it off well and it was apparent they didn't take themselves too seriously.  We chatted a little about the day and what to expect (mostly words of warning from the guys about each others actions) and we were on our way.

We floated from ROLF to Blair Bridge.  There were 3 guys fishing and I can only comfortably fish 2 guys out of the drift boat so that means someone had to bring up the rear in a canoe.  The fishing report is as easy as--fishing was really, really good.  Take a Psycho Prince and cast it toward the water....it doesn't even really have to be 'in' the water, just close.  So I won't bore you with those details.....I'll just throw photos at you!

Now to explain this posts title we have to take a step back.  You see it turns out our friend Nick (upper-most photo) is quite graceful in the water and he was dubbed "The Manitee" by his peers because of this God given grace.  Notice I did not say what 'kind' of grace he possesses but I had heard stories of beautiful Pirouettes as he entered the water to which one would be moved to tears by watching (laughing until you cried basically.)  BUT I can't give the Manitee too much crap because he brought a couple of custom rods with him that I kind of geeked out over.

At one point, I think while someone was catching crap about catching a 4" chub there was talk about a Hall of Shame for Fly Fishing the Ozarks.  This isn't completely done yet but soon, very soon, there will be a page dedicated to misshaps, blunders, rocks, tangles, tiny fish, and whatever else I see fit enough for the Hall of Shame from my fishing, your fishing, and for those fisherman of mine with a sense of humor (which I get a lot of!) 

To end this blabbering I can't even begin to remember any of the one-liners that was dropped over the 2 days I guided these guys but all I can say is I thought my buddies and I were tough on each other when we were on the water.....Chicago is cool in my book now--kind of.

For all the photos of this trip click the Album below.