The Big Honker

Mike and Bobbi McHughCamping near Baldwin this past August, I met a most interesting husband and wife duo. Mike is 83 ½ years old, and he and his wife, Bobbi, are the Michigan-equivalent of Lee and Joan Wulff.

Noticing our waders hanging under a tree, and fly rods nearby, they stopped by the campfire to talk fly fishing with me and my companion, John Smith. Before long we were swapping stories, and trading tips. Mostly I listened, though. They both carried themselves with the quiet confidence that only comes from catching thousands of inches of trout, spanning decades of angling. Mostly I listened.

One story lead to another. But, I finally had to put my foot down when Bobbi told about the time she hooked a 35-inch Skamania Steelhead at 12:30am, and didn’t get it into the net until 4am. It seems she was fishing at night by herself, as she enjoys. Mike knew of her whereabouts, so he wasn’t too concerned, either. Finally about 1:30 am, he wandered down to her favorite night time haunt to look for her. There she was, knee deep in the river, “bothering” a huge fish, back and forth, trying to tire it out. Her trout net was woefully inadequate for the task at hand. So there she stood, bothering that fish, waiting for Mike to show up.

“We’ll never land this one without a bigger net,” she told Mike. So off he went to find a larger net. He didn’t return until 4am. That huge Skam ended up taking top honors in the Baldwin contest.

“Where’s the proof?” I asked. "You can’t tell a story like that without a photo." She quietly reached into her wallet and presented the evidence. The dog-eared, faded photo seemed to have been taken The "Big Honker"back in the 70’s. She had the proof, so I didn’t want to belabor the details.

"Took ‘em on a Big Honker,” She said. “It’s a fly Mike tied up special for me.”

Mike pulled out his fly collection and displayed the pattern. I offered to trade him “even” . . . a Low Rider for one of his Big Honkers. He took me up on the deal, but I think I got the best end of the bargain. Looking back on it, I feel kind of bad, now.

I truly hope I run into Mike and Bobbi one more time. I owe Mike about two dozen flies.