beneath the surface that I began fishing
beneath the surface for any significant
amount of time myself.
I had watched him cast, then slowly strip
line back to him as he waited for his line to
dart left or right. Then he'd set the hook. He
was catching fish so fast that he frequently
took breaks, not wanting to finish his four-
fish permit any earlier than he needed to,
even if he was permitted two more of these
daily $6 permits on site if he so desired.
Right after photographing the opener, I
called my dad, told him what I thought we
should try and picked up a couple of woolly
buggers from Scheels in Omaha. They
were less than a couple of bucks apiece.
My son, Eli, and I were at the lake the next
morning. Within a few casts into the open
water, the first fish slammed into my fly,
pulling drag from my reel.
By the time I had landed
it, I had instantly cured
my ice-fishing blues.
Three fish later and I was
back on the phone with
dad. He bought himself a
number of woolly buggers
of various colors, and we
returned to the east side
of Lake No. 5 with the
rest of the fly anglers the
following Saturday, two
permits in my hand.
Once again, the fish were there. A day
later, we had two more friends come with
us after sharing how much fun we had had.
Because neither of them had any fly fishing
equipment of their own, we loaned them a
Top: Scott Marr of Omaha catches a rainbow trout
while fly fishing at Two Rivers State Recreation
Area's Lake No. 5.
Right: Eighty-two-year-old Riley Marr of Omaha
nets a trout he caught on the fly at Two Rivers.
42 NEBRASKAland • MARCH 2017
