After 5: Fly-fishing is way of life for many Ozarks' businesspeople

Andrew Covington is only half joking when he says an outing to Bennett Springs State Park turned trout fishing into an obsession.

"From that point on, it became a major disease in my life," admits Covington, owner of Springfield's Ashley Furniture. His Fridays are often devoted to hopping into the Toyota FJ Cruiser he bought just for fishing and heading to one of his favorite spots.

"Any direction you go, you'll run into a fly stream somewhere," he adds.

Covington and his wife moved to the Ozarks from Kansas City three years ago. When a neighbor introduced Covington to Bennett Springs in Lebanon, it sparked the longtime fisherman's passion for trout.

Relaxation is part of the allure, perhaps the best part, of fly-fishing.

"You can go with friends, but you'll end up by yourself," Covington says. "I'm busy every single day. I'm in the process of building two more Ashley stores. ... You have to get away."

Scott Tarwater calls trout fishing an escape into the "silent beauty" of nature.

"No phones, no faxes, no e-mail, no memos. Just you and the rod," says Tarwater, senior vice president of development for John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts. "You always look forward to the next stream you've never been to. ... You never play golf or fly-fish in ugly places."

He picked up fly-fishing 10 years ago when he needed something to do between bow-hunting seasons. Tarwater also was inspired by the elegant casting portrayed in the 1992 movie, "A River Runs Through It," set in Montana, where he went to float and fish a few years ago with his son and some friends.

Tarwater has fly-fished all over the world. One of his favorite spots, however, is close to home in the Arkansas Ozarks at Rim Shoals on the White River. As a catch-and-release trophy area, the Rim Shoals resort requires barbless flies, Tarwater says. A crimping tool is used to crimp the barb, which is tested on a shirt to make sure it doesn't pull any thread - just the way a game warden would check.

"It's absolutely like walking into a postcard. The people (at Rim Shoals) are absolutely phenomenal," says Tarwater, who next plans a fishing excursion to northern New Mexico.

For all the mostly solitary unwinding trout fishing provides, anglers also are drawn to the challenge of convincing fish that a man-made fly is as tasty as the real thing.

"The fish doesn't have to bite ... so part of it is getting good enough to get the fish to bite," says Jeremy Reese, director of information technology at Students in Free Enterprise, who often trout fishes with his wife and children.

Trout fishing is like any other developed skill, says Michael Kyle, co-owner with wife Kristina of Backcountry Outfitters on South Campbell Avenue. If practice doesn't always make perfect, it helps an awful lot - whether it's learning to cast or studying the ecosystem.

"I tell people I think like a fish," Michael Kyle says. "It's all about how fish react, what fish eat, what fish see, and they all change with the weather. ... You can make fish eat, I guarantee it."

Carolyn Parker of River Run Outfitters in Branson adds another factor.

"I also think like a bug - how are you going to move in the water," says Parker, who with husband Stan co-owns the fly-fishing shop and guide service endorsed by Orvis.

Bugs are erratic, so learning different types of presentation - such as a dead drift or scattering on the surface - helps attract fish, says Parker, a 40-year veteran of fly-fishing. River Run's location takes advantage of Lake Taneycomo, a well-known trout-fishing paradise among fisherman."You can't say there's one thing cool about it," Parker says. "I've been fishing for many years, and I still don't know everything. ... Every day is a new beginning."