Written By Dean Reiner of Hatch Finders Fly Shop
THE 2007 LIVINGSTON
INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF FLY FISHERS CONCLAVE
It’s conclave time again for the anglers in Livingston. For Hatch Finders Fly Shop it’s an opportunity for us to renew old friendships and make new ones. For me it’s the best time of year to sit back, listen to all the fish stories, making sure I have my feet on top of my desk, and tell a few whoppers myself.
The show it self features new products, gadgets of all kinds, all the things that makes a fly fisherman’s heart flouter. Fly tiers from around the world make their appearance teaching the latest techniques with the newest materials, all with the hopes of convincing the elusive trout to take their offerings. Koichi my friend and partner made his first appearance this year as a master fly tier offering a class on flies tied with CDC. I’m proud to say it was a wonderful success. Dandy my daughter and general manager of Hatch Finders is manning the booth this year. She is handling the sales and demonstrating some tying techniques of her own. The old man, that’s me, stayed in the shop grateful for the chance to be lazy and to encourage Dandy and Koichi to show off their talents.
The FFF has a new program this year, its called healing waters. It consists of taking disabled veterans from all branches of the military and taking them fly-fishing. The wonderful thing is that there is no cost to the veterans. I had the distinct pleasure to have two men in my boat, Mark Bilodeay and Bill Johnston. Mark from the air force and Bill who was a Marine who served in Vietnam. He was injured with only 3 days left in country. The injures were so server that he lost bough of his legs. He asked me what I did in Vietnam and I told him I was a crew chief on CH-46’s. When I told him I served with HMM-364 the Purple Foxes he said that, that was the squadron that med-a-vac him and was instrumental in getting him to a hospital and saving his life. All helicopter squadrons fought with valor in Vietnam but our primary duty was to rescue wounded solders. I believe we saved the lives of thousand of our brave men and women who were surly mistreated upon their return home.
There was another program from Bozeman called Wounded Worriers where they took Marines wounded in Iraq and gave these young Marines several days on the water. Finally we are treating our service men and woman with the respect they deserve.
On Monday I got a real treat. I had the pleasure to meet a man named Alastair Gowans. Ally, as he likes to be called, is a world class instructor on spay casting and one of Scotland premiere guides for Atlantic salmon and Brown Trout. On Friday we loaded up the boat and headed up to Mc Connell for a day of fishing. We also had in the boat Dennis Grant a good friend of Ally’s and he sits on the casting board of governors. We put in at 6 AM. I noticed that the parking lot was empty, thinking that was unusable we started fishing. A few minuets later and one fish I got a call from Hooters asking how bad the mud was. Then I understood. I told her it was terrible not to send any boats up here. I know that was very bad of me but I got to fish the entire day and never saw another boat. That was the first time I floated that stretch all by myself in 27 years. So shoot me! Dennis used streamers all day and really did well. Ally was committed to the dry fly. He used the ever-reliable Pink Pookie. Ally was just fascinated with the scenery. Every time he rubbernecked he would get a strike. The comet was "did you see that, he almost got my fly. I saved it just in time"! By the end of the day we had a respectable number of trout to the boat. And the best thing for me is I didn’t have to say mend even once. I was in heaven. Sitting or standing, these guys could cast from the middle of the river to any bank and catch fish. It was surreal. On our ride back to town Ally said in his Scottish brogue "Dean do you know the definition of fly fishing?" Not really wanting to say something predictable I waited, Ally came back with the simplest way to describe it. At the end of the day it’s having a smile on your face and wanting to do the same thing tomorrow. I think he said it all.
I would like to thank the Wounded Worriers, Healing Waters and all the vets, and to say thanks to all my friends with the FFF for a mind numbing but absolutely enjoyable week
Volume # 4 Number # 6
Dean Reiner
Hatch Finders Fly Shop
113 #3 West Park St
Livingston, MT 59047
na3d@hatchfinders.com
WWW.hatchfinders.com
1-406-222-0989 Shop
1-406-223-1330 Cell