End of an Era.

Epic Journey
Today was the closing of a chapter in my fishing career. With my wedding next week I will be no longer able to fish Blue Springs without a member. It's unlikely I won't fish Blue Springs again, but it won't be the same having to have a member to fish along side of me from now on. There have been enough memories made at Blue Springs in the last 10+ years to start its own blog. I started flipping(developed pictures) through old pictures and was reminded of some great trips. Blue Springs is where Matt "Pike" Anderson and started our fishing adventures. We started fishing bait and eventually worked to fly fishing. Collin Cleaner started fishing with me and Matt pretty much at the beginning, but not the very beginning:) There have been many friends along the way.

The Beginning Years
We fished a lot of bait from a boat and from shore, kept a fair amount of fish, we chewed a lot of sunflower seeds, listened to 959 the hawk faithfully, drank a lot of Dr. Pepper, skipped a lot of school, slept at the cabin many nights, and had a lot of fun. Also, started the SPC fishing club. We had a bunch of old 70's SPC hats and decided to start a club. It didn't last, but it was fun at the time. A lot of early mornings at the cabin with hot cocoa to get us going. Phrases like, "Collin the GD sun isn't even up yet," happened somewhere in the early years when we worried about waking up really early and anyone that knows me, knows I like my sleep. I also fished with a lot of different people in the beginning years. It was always an adventure.

First actual photo of first trip fishing trip to Blue Springs with Matt

Matt and I unashamed to take partial credit of Collins fish

Brett, Kyle and Joe, the 3 of us spent a lot of time on the waterWe would ice fish a couple times a year
Consumed lots of this, start of the belly
The beginning of the SPC fishing club. Never had any luck night fishing though

Seeds, SPC hat, Sun Tan and Soda(Dr. Pepper)

Somewhere In There.
After everyone we knew had to many fish in there freezers and a lot of bait chucking we started venturing into the unknown world of fly fishing. I believe it was me, Matt and Collin that got the necessary gear to get started. Eventually Steve, Brett, Joe and others got involved. I still remember going to SPC and fabricating our own fly rod tubes. We were all new and learned a lot of hard lessons. We eventually would go back to chucking due to frustration, but for the most part we stuck it out. Had some help with from people like John Schultz, Larry E, Wes C, Chris H, Dustin D, and some others. We didn't have nearly the help online that there is now from the extensive websites and youtube. I also began tying flies sometime around then,

One of the many sunset pictures I had.

Had to be awhile ago in those waders
In the beginning of the change

Old Glory, Woment want me fish fear me

The annual Kyle's butt kicking from Collin

Matt with a recent slab

Later years

Alot has happened in the last few years at Blue Springs. We had a couple epic seasons that produced many fish days often. The fishing got so good it seemed like I was taking lots of friends that wanted to learn to fly fish and families to fish with there kids. I took teachers that used to allow me to sluff class once in awhile so I could go fish(I think it was a good trade off), fished with lots of family I started taking a fair amount of clients, so I could get out on the water for work. It is a lot like the beginning years. I take a lot of different people because of the high volume catch rate and large fish.

Some of the Barney clan.

Matt Hirischi with his first catch on a fly rodErickson FamilySuwyn with a slab this early spring21"

Last Supper

The Last Supper
Got an early start up to Blue Springs with Matt this morning. We got on the water around 6:30 and got fishing. Not much later Desert Rock showed up and started fishing. They got one quick fished and released it. They figured it would be one of many to come. At about 10:30 they picked up and left without another fish, not even a bite. Matt had one bite and we were started back to the truck at about 11 and I finally hooked into a real fighter. I decided to keep this fish to give to my Grandma. She has been asking me to bring her fish since I quit keeping them about 5 or 6 years ago, so I figured I would surprise her with a fish.

I don't fish Blue Springs nearly like I used too. I have discovered more moving waters that I enjoy to fish more often. There are many memories that were not shared or could not be shared, but we all know what they are. I have a bunch of fun old pictures from the glory days of blue springs. I'll put a link of my Picasa account for anyone wanting to see some of the old shots. If you have any to contribute please do.

Blue Springs