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On Saturday at 6:30 p.m., my brother-in-law, Bill, and I were mosquito-bitten, sunburned, thirsty and exhausted. Sitting streamside just outside of Elba, MN on the North Branch of the Whitewater River, we had just said goodbye to the Rosso’s, a family of six we led on an all-day guided trip for trout. Despite how we felt and looked, we couldn’t have been happier.

At 7:30 that morning, we met the Rosso family for breakfast at the Elba House to both re-acquaint and introduce ourselves, as well as to make plans for the day. I’d taken Paul and Sandy, along with their son, Todd and his wife, Leah, fishing at the lodge last season. On Saturday, Todd’s brother Brent and his wife, Rebecca, also joined the group.

After rigging up rods and reels and conducting a brief refresher course on fly-casting at a fisherman’s parking area at the edge of a cornfield, we split up into two groups of four. Bill would take Paul, Todd and Leah downstream on the North Branch, and I’d take Sandy, Brent and Rebecca upstream.

The water was still clearing up following a torrential downpour the area had received six days ago and the Trico hatch hadn’t yet begun on the Whitewater, so we decided to use nymphs under strike indicators. The nymphs sink quickly to the bottom and tumble along the riverbed, while the strike indicator floats along on the surface. When a trout strikes a nymph, typically the indicator dunks sharply underwater and upstream.

Rebecca, who is an experienced fly angler, didn’t take long to land her first brown trout. Sandy was next to catch one, so aside from putting them on productive water and swapping out fly patterns occasionally, I didn’t feel they required too much coaching. Brent was new to the sport, so I was able to work more closely with him until he hooked and landed his first trout on a fly rod.

We agreed to meet back at the parking area at 1:30 for lunch. We were all excited to know how the other group fared and were happy to hear that between both groups, around 40 fish were caught and released.

The afternoon brought with it extreme heat and sunshine, so the bite was a bit tougher. Bill and I swapped groups and decided to hit some clearer water on the Middle Branch. We had yet to witness any rising fish, so we stuck to throwing nymphs. Another 20 or so trout were reported caught at the time we decided to call it quits, so it was a pretty good day’s fishing by anyone’s standards.

Making friends of people you run across in the guiding game is somewhat rare. Usually, it’s a one-shot deal that puts a guide and his or her clients together for a few brief hours, never to meet again. Every now and again, I enjoy the company of people I take fishing at the lodge so much that I suggest we keep in touch and fish together in the future. That was precisely the case with the Rosso family, and I’m very pleased that we had an opportunity to fish together again.

I’ve realized after instructing and guiding for five seasons, that I remember and cherish the experiences with good people far longer, and with far more clarity, than the fishing itself.

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