Trophy Lake

This weekend I headed out for the Hope Men's Retreat at Miracle Ranch. This was my first Men's retreat, and it was a great experience. There were about 30 guys from the church and we had a great speaker and great program and enjoyed some good times.

One of those "good times" was the pre-retreat golf outing on Friday. Four of us headed over to Trophy Lake Golf and Casting for some golf. This is one of my favorite courses around. First, because it is just a nice course. Second, it is in a quiet setting. And Third, because it integrated Fly Fishing and golf at one location. They have two stocked ponds on the course. In the number of time I have played golf, I have never had the chance to fish it. Well, I had my chance this weekend.

While at the turn, I inquired about fishing....mainly because after passing the 1st stocked pond off of #6, I saw some HUGE fish lurking in the shallow water. I learned that it is only $15 per hour to fish, and 1/2 price if you golf that day.....so for only $7.50 I could try this out for the first time...it was a no brainer. Ironically, I had brought my 4weight fly rod, flies, etc with me in case I had the chance to fish at the lake where the retreat was at. However, I didnt even really need that. For that $7.50 they loaned you a nice Sage Rod and Reel, a net and flies. I wasn't thrilled with the fly selection, so I took my own out with me, but I did use their rod...I hesitates on the net, but then decided to take it as well...just in case. I loaded up the golf cart and headed out to the #6 tee box.

Without rambling too much more, I will let the pictures do the talking. It was AWESOME! The fish were feeding like crazy, and within about 5 minutes I had two hit and finally landed a fish. All in all, I landed 5 fish....all as big or bigger than the one in the picture. I used a small grey parachute adams for a bit and then black wolley bugger. It was a ton of fun. My two buddies who were not as much in to fishing, were spectators while enjoying some cold beverages....Now this is my kind of "19th Hole."