Father's Day

Father's Day at Twin Bridges

This Father's Day I had the pleasure of being treated to an afternoon on the water with my youngest son, Jake. It was a trip that I gathered was his idea to begin with, so the focus was on his learning to fly fish.

Leaders 101

     We started with the process of learning the gear. mainly the terminal end of things where the leaders, tippet and fly come into play. After a little leaders 101, we were off to refresh his casting skills. having only spent one previous  day on the water with the fly rod last season, it was going to be baby steps at first.
     We chose a likely-looking slot near the bank to begin our efforts. We tied on a medium Thing-a-ma-bobber, and then a Squirrels Nest nymph to begin our efforts. Today would be a nymphing class.

The Demo!

    I started with a brief class on how to manage his fly line, and watch his drift. Something he already had begun to learn last year. Then as if a sign of the day, I was blessed with a suicidal chub to add to the visual for the lesson.
    When it was his turn he picked things up quickly, after a few mishaps and figuring out that false casts were not your friend with nymph rigs.

Learning to Cast

                                                                                 Before you knew it we had him doing back-hand cast and roll casting upstream. And once that clicked, the boots got moving in pursuit of fish and fishy waters.
     Working our way upstream was easy in the shallow water, and we picked a spot under the bridge upstream as a likely candidate for holding fish.
      By the time we reached the bridge he was feeling confident and unwilling to hand over the rod as much for a demonstration or additional lesson.

Working the Water

 

 Then, on the 3rd cast in the deep slot adjacent to the bridge abutment, it happened. A little 9" rainbow liked the looks of his nymph and took it with gusto. And after a short fight we were were able to get it into the net. HIS FIRST FLY-CAUGHT FISH! It was followed by a quick lesson on properly releasing a fish, then back to work on the hole. He would get another crack at a much larger fish that rolled his fly, before packing it in.

1st Fish!

    From that point on it was all Jake. Taking to things like a pro and enjoying the drive to "catch another one".  From my breakfast picnic, to my gifts....you just can't ask for a better Fathers Day on the water.

Another Fly Fisherman Arrives