Frugal fishermen Catching trout on a budget is challenging assi

WAYNESVILLE, Mo. -- Penny-pinchers. Cheapskates. Tightwads. Spendthrifts.

Go ahead, call Bob Sadrakula, Keith Gann and Don Burns anything you want. All they know is, they get the most for their buck when they go fishing.

"It gripes me to pay full price for anything," said Burns, 58, who lives in Olathe, Kan. "To me, it's fun to save money. Let's face it, we're just cheap."

Call them the ultimate frugal fishermen.

The three retired executives delight in fishing on a budget, traveling to such wilderness locations as Colorado and Wyoming and living on only a few dollars a day.

Maybe that's why they were so well-suited for the recent Trout Bum fishing contest, a promotion dreamed up by Fly Rod and Reel Magazine, a publication based in Maine.

Under the rules, editors awarded six teams of fishermen from across the nation $500 for a 10-day fly-fishing trip. The fishermen had to fish at least five different bodies of water and keep receipts, records of their catch, and a running diary of their adventure, including the colorful characters they ran into.

If the money ran out, so did their luck. They were out.

But for Sadrakula, Gann and Burns, that wasn't a problem. They, after all, were experts at stretching a buck.

Hauling a 1977 pop-up tent camper that they bought several years ago for $800, they headed out in mid-July for the deep Ozarks and some of the trout streams that you need a magnifying glass to find on the map.

Far from the land of luxurious resorts and expensive restaurants, they set up base camp at a campground in Waynesville -- a place where they negotiated a half-off price and a free pool pass.

Then they headed out on the back roads, rambling down gravel paths to hidden jewels that many fishermen don't know exist.

'Hidden little spots'

The first stop was Roubidoux Creek, a pretty stream that flows through Waynesville, just a long cast from where they parked their camper.

The next day, they were kicking up dust on an unmarked gravel road, following it until they pulled to a stop at a gem called Spring Creek.

"We like getting off the beaten track; getting out where there aren't many other fishermen," said Gann, 61, of Kansas City, Kan., who was an executive in a manufacturing company before retiring in 1997. "We do a lot of research before we go on our trips so that we can find some of these hidden little spots. We see a lot of beautiful country that way. It's the exploring that excites us."

Seconds later, the three fishermen were wading into the cool water, following the narrow creek as it wound through the Ozark hills.

"The water is so warm, it's going to be hard to catch trout," said Sadrakula, 61, of Edwardsville, who was the general manager for the Board of Public Utilities in Kansas City, Kan., before retiring. "Ordinarily, we'd be out West right now, instead of fishing in the Ozarks where it gets so hot.

"But we're here because of this contest. We're not going to catch fish like we would in the spring, but we'll still do OK."

As they fished Spring Creek, they ran into a landowner who had heard about their quest. He offered to let the fishermen try a private stretch of stream, of which he controlled access.

Using Elk Hair Caddis flies, Sadrakula, Gann and Burns reeled in 12 rainbow trout.

But the best didn't come until later in the week when the Kansas-City area men traveled to the Current River. There, they landed 12 trout one day, 21 the next.

By the end of the 10-day trip, they had caught and released 138 fish -- 88 of them trout. All of this, on a tight budget. They spent only $211.23 on the trip -- and didn't suffer one bit as a result.