Fly Fishing People: Chuck Scates and Dave Hayward

Joe Doggett reappears in the Houston Chronicle (thankfully) writing about two people who were instrumental in bringing fly fishing to waters around Rockport, Texas. I’ve fished with Dave Hayward, who is now Orvis’s southwest regional manager, in both Texas and the Keys, and he is easily qualified to be a professional guide in his own right. Chuck Scates was a name in the business at a time when fly fishers were just discovering the fabulous sight fishing in Aransas Bay. “Hayward redeemed the choke with an excellent cast on a 27-inch redfish weaving through water so shallow the gleaming back was exposed. The fish snatched the fly and turned against the positive strip strike. Five minutes later, Hayward held the red against the hull, then opened his hands for a clean release. Scates grinned from the poling platform. ‘It’s a lot easier when you wait until they get the fly in their mouth, eh?'”