I've been trying to figure out the right timing to fly fish for trout with the kids. I tried last year and it went great until about 20min in my son fell in the river. He wasn't swept away by the current but he did go in face first and got soaked. This time instead of taking both I decided to try just going with my daughter. The weather seemed to cooperate and I knew a stream had just been stocked. My mother was able to come along and things were adding up to make a great fishing trip. We got to the river and only one other car was in the parking lot. I rigged up our gear as fast as I could and my mother talked to a gentleman who was recently fishing. He said he didn't think it was stocked at all. My heart kind of sank when I heard that but I was skeptical and decided to check for myself. I looked in a location I knew always had fish and sure enough there were 4 or 5 just hanging in the calm water.
Fish were here and I knew a run where they stack up after stocking. I put my daughter in position and watched her cast upstream. I tried to explain how to watch the drift and keep an eye on the indicator. On her third cast the indicator dipped. She lifted the rod late and felt the tug of a fish and instantly had that smile you get when you hook a fish. "I felt it fighting!" she said. The next several casts she had several strikes and her timing was just a bit off from setting the hook. I figured this is how it would go most of the day then all of sudden she shrieked "I GOT ONE, I GOT ONE" and I saw a shimmer in the water. Before I could say anything she hauled the fish out of the water and brought it over to the bank. I ran over and put the fish in the net and I told my daughter "try not to slam the fish on the bank but that was awesome!"
I was still amazed at how fast she caught a fish. I knew she'd probably catch one but not in the first 10min of fishing.
We were both a little giddy. I thought it was beginner's luck but a few casts later she had another fish. Then while I was helping my mother untangle her line I heard behind me "I got another one!"
She caught another fish shortly after and then asked if she could take a break.
I explained that fishing isn't always like this and some days you don't catch anything. She knew that and wanted to take a break to check out the flowers and do some other projects. She proceeded to start building something using the river rocks. I thought about talking to her about how those are a home for other animals and some of the consequences of doing that but just left her to her fun.
I love that she enjoyed just being outside and it wasn't about how many fish she caught. She learned this a lot faster than I did. It was an amazing day for everyone and the best part is that I could share it with family.
We all caught fish and the weather couldn't have cooperated better. I can only hope the future trips we have will be half as successful.
