Don Butler aka "The Fish Fox", was a fixture on the Farmington River for years, teaching others through his guide service and the magazine articles he wrote. Don worked behind the counter at UpCountry all through the 1990s and 2000s. His jovial laugh and varied tales were always entertaining when things were slow at the store or when the fishing was less than stellar on the river. A true Church Pool disciple, Don would often be found below the Route 318 bridge with his tiny two weight Loomis rod, casting his own dry-fly creations to finicky trout. In addition to trout fishing, Don spent time chasing bonefish on Exuma.

Don passed away a few weeks ago, having lived and loved a full life of fishing and family. I thought that there would be no better way to honor him and share who he was by presenting this slightly abridged excerpt from one of Don Butler's many stories:

Don't Bore the Trout

by the Fish Fox

Crowded conditions and no room to move. So I was "stuck" with the dozen or so browns in front of me. Cast, drift, no, cast, drift, no, cast drift, NO! From time to time I checked on my upstream neighbor, he was either playing a fish or playing with his pipe. A half hour passed. My frustration grew. My forearm was tired but still I cast. 

"Your Borenem!"

"What"

"Your boring the fish."

It was the fellow to my left. A gnome of a man, more waders than person. The nine foot rod he used looked like a flagpole by comparison.

"These No-Kill fish aren't skittish so they will keep feeding even after you tried to beat them to death with your fly line. By this time they know how many wraps of silk you put around the wing of that fly and what your brand of head cement is."

He reloaded his pipe and really got into it.

"Try acting like a bird. An osprey today would be out of the question with the mass of humanity that's out here, you can't move up and down the river looking for targets of opportunity. Now a Great Blue Heron is a another matter. He waits. When he does move, it's for a purpose. You think I enjoy smoking this nasty old pipe? Bull, it gives me something to do with my hands, and keeps me from casting too much. Today be a heron. Wait. Watch, and don't bore the fish." 

With that he put the nine footer in action and laid a perfect cast slightly up river and struck the fine brown that came up to the offering.

Sermon and example.

So I changed my tippet, counted my flies, cleaned my line, and tried to do the long legged bird bit. After what seemed like an hour, I cast again. With no hesitation the FISH OF THE DAY came up and slammed the fly. ZZZZZZZZZZZZ. Thank God he didn't know about going down stream. An honest 18 incher and maybe 3lbs. As I held him in the current, prior to release my eyes met the old timer, and I said "Thank you."

"Your entirely welcome"

I had the impression he got a bigger kick out of that fish than I did. The lesson was learned.

Since that day I have taken notice of the better fishermen at both the Housatonic and the Farmington. Ed Eveleth of the Wilderness Shop in Litchfield is definitely an osprey type. He's all over the river, expecially the other side of the Housatonic. The first time I saw hime fishing the wrong side of the river after the water came up, he scared the Hell out of me. With that hair and beard walking "on" the water to get back to his car was too much. In reality he knew where the rocks were.

Pete "White Hat" Forte is another osprey. Pete of the two weight rod, 8x leaders and #28 flies. Lord does this man catch fish. He throws in a little blue Heron in his movements and makes smart accurate casts that are more than productive. 

"Waterbury Wide" is for sure a blue Heron with a difference. He's a fly changer. From Dun to Spinner, from Emerger to Terrestrials. "Go lighter, go darker, up a hook size, down a hook size." He says.

As for myself, since , that memorable day four years ago, I've tried never again to be accused of "Borenem".

The No-Kill areas of the Housatonic, Farmington, and Willimantic, are working. There's always fish to fish to and when there's fish there's fishermen.

Start by trying to "match the hatch". Then be an osprey, if it's too crowded be a blue Heron. Use that non-hatching "Royal Coachman", try a "Renegade". Go from Mayfly to Caddis. The two volumes of the Orvis Pattern Books, list at least one hundred and fifty different dry-fly recipies. Multiply that by four or five hook sizes and you can see the assortment is limitless. You won't bore the fish, and more important, you won't bore yourself.