Sammy, by 6 year old, granddaughter and avid fly fishing partner, had been after me for a month to "Take her out "Yetti Fishing".
Sam loves, fly fishing and there's no quarry she won't go after, if she thinks there's even a slim chance it can be taken with a fly. She'd seen many times, the results of her Gampa's jetty fishing excursions with the long rod and now her interest was finally peaked enough, to where she also wanted to give it a try.
"Sam, Honey, it's "Jetty fishing, with a "J", not "Yettie fishing"."Yettie fishing", would only be, right, if we went fishing for Himalayan snow monsters!"
"Don't be a dork head, Gampa, you KNOW what I mean! Can we go?" (Sam's not only picked up the finer points of fly fishing very rapidly, she has also mastered both, her mother's and her Grama's finer points in eye rolling and heavy sighing, when I say something stupid).

So, after signing the proper release forms, her mother forced me to fill out, in triplicate, concerning the facts that I wouldn't "somehow lose Sam", while in my care for the day and making countless promises to her Grama, that I wouldn't "do anything foolish, stupid, or risky" out on the North Jetty while with Sam, we loaded our gear and we're off.
Jetty fishing, with a fly rod isn't quite the same thing as "standing in a mountain stream, pristine wilderness surrounding you??????" It's more or less??. "crashing ocean waves against the giant piled up rocks of the man made, spit, the size and force of each wave, equal to a runaway freight train trying to run you down, when your back's turned. The gear, not a limber, wispy, 3wt. but fast action, stiff as boards,8wts. loaded with full sinking shooting heads and reels to handle the whole setup and whatever the unknown ocean may offer up to you to try and bring to your net."Flies" are heavily weighted Clousers and self invented streamers.

"Gampa, I don't need, THAT! I can swim! You told me, I swim like a duck, be'member?" I was snapping the carabineer onto the eye latch of the harness that surrounded Sam's waist. To that, was a rope and shock cord set up, that led behind her to a rock slightly larger than my Van. Her lifejacket was already buckled securely about her.
"Sam, you can't "swim like a duck", Sweetie, in water and waves, like these! And, I'm not running the risk of losing my favorite fishing partner!"
"Gampa! Look!!"
I, turned and followed her pointing finger????..8 to 10 Terns were happily bobbing and riding the incoming waves, obviously doing some fishing of their own.
"See, Gampa? DUCKS! THEY, aren't having any trouble swimming, Gampa!"
"Yeah, pretty birds, Sammy, now?????? does the harness feel oaky? Not too tight? Are you comfortable?"
Perfecting her eye rolling and heavy sighing, Sam almost whispered her response to my inquiry; "Yes, Gampa, it's fine. But, it's still dorky!"

Sam, knew, she couldn?t cast the heavy rods and lines we were using, so there was no argument from her when I lined up the gear and laid the streamers, far out, past the breaking water. Sam insisted on knowing each and every motion and movement I was making. She'd never seen this kind of fly fishing before and seemed fascinated by it.
Only when the wind caught one of my back casts and threw it onto the jetty rocks at our feet, did she then say anything?????..
"Gee, Gampa, you can cast BETTER than that!"
Every one's a critic.
On the fourth cast, as the Clouser settled towards the bottom, Sammy suddenly slapped her tiny hand against the rod's cork grip, and reared back with all her body weight.
"Gampa! This isn't a TROUT!"
I stove my own rod, down between the rocks and sat down next to Sam, watching and waiting, to see what she'd do next and to watch the tip of her rod trying to determine what size fish she may be going up against.
The rod didn't pump down, or jump and flex. It just kept bending downward. "Rock Cod", Sam! I think, you've tied into a Rock Cod. I explained to her, why I thought this, by the action of her 8wt's rod tip.
"It's really HEAVY, Gampa! Will it break my rod?"
"No, Sweetie not a chance, don't worry about it".
What are you going to do,NOW, Sam?"
I'm sure, there was more eye rolling, but I was watching the rod, not her face.
"The line's on the spool, Gampa, so should I reel it in?"
I showed her how to pump the rod, gain some line, reel that in, then repeat the whole process over again.
Sam did, exactly as instructed and brought the fish close enough for me to net it, finally.
When I lifted the cod from the water and laid it on the rocks, Sam looked down at it, with a queer look on her face.
"It's really UGLY, Gampa! It was a lot of work, Gampa, to just catch an ugly fish! Let's throw it back into the ocean, Gampa, I don't want to keep a ugly fish like that".
"SAMMY! It may look ugly, on the outside, but this Cod has great meat! It's white, and flaky and when Grama fixes it, her special way, it's fantastic to eat!"
"It's too ugly, to eat Gampa. I bet its ugly goes all the way down to its meat too! Let's throw it back".
It was HER fish, HER decision. I slid about 8 pounds of one of the Coast's most sought after seafood meals back into the dark green water. "Good Bye, ugly fish!" was all Sammy said,as the bug eyed and tired Cod slowly sank out of sight.
"Gampa?"
"Yes, Sam?"
"Are ALL the fishies, when we fish like this, so ugly like that?"
"No, not "all", Sam. The Sea Bass and Perch aren't ugly at all".
"I like trout fishing, better Gampa and Crappies and Bluegills too. They're not ugly like that fish".
"Are we going to catch more ugly fish, today, Gampa?"
"Sam, sorry. I don't have a clue, Honey. When you fish, like this, anything is possible. There's lots of different fish down there in the ocean, you know, we could catch just about anything out here, today!"
"I don't have to wear all this Dorky stuff, either Gampa, when we fish for trout and pretty fish".
"No, but you still wear your life jacket, Sam, no matter what we fish for".
"Yeah, but I'm not on a leash!" Sam picked up,the sagging end of her safety rope and dropped it.
"Well, Sammy, it's plenty early still, you want to wrap this up and call your mom and tell her we're changing plans and heading over to Billie's lake for some Crappie?"
"YES!! GAMPA, LETS!"
Like I said, "Sammy will go after about anything, if it swims and will eat a fly". But, evidently, until she's a bit older and looks at different types of fly fishing, in a different way,jetty fishing will remain on the bottom of her "best places to fish" list.
We had enough time left, to hit Billie's lake and caught more than our fair share of Crappie and Bluegill. Sammy had her 3wt.which she uses with none of Gampa's help, no "leash" to contend with and sure enough??. I had to agree with her???. "the fish were a LOT prettier", too.