Every now and then my clientele includes a guide or two and such was the case this past Tuesday/Wednesday. I felt honored to have had the opportunity to entertain respected Florida Keys Guide Captain Dave Denkert, his lovely bride Linda and their daughter Brooke for two days at Blackhawk. They had bid on ond won this trip generating funds for Chron’s Disease research through a fund raiser in South Florida.

Capt. Dave is a backcountry and Flats specialist from Tavernier Florida whose pursuit include Tarpon, Bonefish, Permit, Redfish Snook and Trout. He will put his clients on fish using Spinning, Fly or Casting equipment. For this trip they were equipped with 7wt fly rods, light in their hands, heavy by North Georgia standards.

On day one rain was expected which is a blessing for the drought stricken Southeast and we layered accordingly. In the back of my mind I knew there was potential for a blowout from the forecast, but we gave her a go anyway. Arriving at the river I quickly set everyone up on a couple of spots anticipating that we would have to move quickly and watch the rising water. Hook-ups came quickly, however so did the increased water volume.

The rain was now relentless and it was necessary to move my guests to safer water, and to finally call it a morning after only 90 minutes! The plan was to make a go of it the following day.

The following day revealed that the water had risen to as much as 5 feet in some areas, but was down to fishable levels by 10:00am. With great anticipation my clients were eager to go as I assured them they could expect a good day today. Big bugs were the game with Zonkers, Sculpins, Chuck and Ducks, and my own Frosty the Conehead with supplemental weight. A somewhat slow start in the upper section gave way to a spectacular afternoon, including a “Stream Slam”, by each family member as Dave described it. A Stream Slam equals both Brown and Rainbow trout in the net!

It became so busy that most of us didn’t care about the numbers, but more importantly how much we were laughing and cutting up during all this action. I can tell you that Brown’s up to 21″ and Rainbows up to 22″ were caught and were a blast in the heavy high water! Maybe those 7wts were the right choice after all.

Hope my guests had fun, I know I did and would love any opportunity to entertain them again!

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