A Pretty Good Day...

[hap]

My granddaughter is 4 and flies are still a little time into the future for salmon. She has caught a number of grayling on flies she tied herself, including some big ones, by almost any standard. But today was about silver (coho) salmon and it was a bit technical for her age. So she got a bobber and roe on a spinning rod.

Last year, at three, she caught her first solo salmon... today she caught four, at four. I suspect most things in her life are going to be easier for the training she has gotten with a rod in her hand...

But the big take-away... Riley was born when I was just shy of forty. I knew my personality type was not good for raising a kid so I waited until I had matured a bit. Riley did not follow my plan and is 26 with a 4-year-old and a 20-month-old. But what he did today was spend ALL of his time making sure his daughter was fishing and he did not even set up a rod for himself until his daughter was finished for the day. She missed many and lost several on the way in. But, she also caught four legitimate silvers at four...

When Denny visited about a dozen years ago Riley made sure Denny got into the grayling he was looking for, a literal 22 1/4" grayling... I should have realized then he had the stuff to help someone else do their thing without inserting his own wants. But it does make me feel very good knowing my grandkids are getting such an incredible introduction to fishing. It does not hurt that they get to learn here in AK.

As an aside, my granddaughter ties many flies sitting on my lap and the grayling she caught this spring, up to 18" or so, fell to flies she tied with me. Funny how grayling like pink... I never suspected that!

Sorry that I cannot post their pictures, but some folks are sensitive to that...

[Rick Z]

Grandpa had a lot of fun on this excursion.

Rick

[Uncle Jesse]

Hap, you make me jealous. My granddaughter is not quite 20 months, I am looking forward to taking her after some bream here in Georgia. I had not considered teaching her to tie flies, something to think about. You and I are blessed.

[James Smith]

What a great story. You are helping her mak memories that will stick with her for the rest of her life. Congratulations on being a good grandpa.

Jim Smith

[gqualls]

Enjoyed reading this Hap. You painted a pretty good picture of her sitting on your lap while tying flies. Thank you for sharing.

[hap]

Thanks guys, it is fun...

And yesterday was more of the same. There was a very hot bite on fish with sea lice all over them! She landed at least 6 and my grandson even reeled one in. It was so hot I even fished a little and had a couple ridiculous hard-charging takes that one lives for. These chrome fish still in tidewater are something else.

My granddaughter even agreed to kiss a fish for a photo for the mere payment of an ice cream cone with pink ice cream and sprinkles!

[ohiotuber]

Thanks guys, it is fun...

And yesterday was more of the same. There was a very hot bite on fish with sea lice all over them! She landed at least 6 and my grandson even reeled one in. It was so hot I even fished a little and had a couple ridiculous hard-charging takes that one lives for. These chrome fish still in tidewater are something else.

My granddaughter even agreed to kiss a fish for a photo for the mere payment of an ice cream cone with pink ice cream and sprinkles!

Hap,
You made my day!!
While my 4 month old granddaughter, Nora, is too young to fish, her big brother, 2 year old Landon, started fishing with me this year. So far this year, he has kissed 4 bluegill & a crappie with no fear & no hesitation. I just told him that to be a REAL fisherman, he needed to kiss the fish right on the lips. I have 9 grandchildren & all the others have fished, kissed fish, & still do fish with Grandpa.
My granddaughter Tori, who is now 15, started fishing with me at age 3. One day, she insisted that I fish too. She watched a few casts, then tried to "flycast" with her Zebco. As I was untangling her line, I saw her pick up my flyrod & lay about 15 feet of line out....caught a decent bluegill on that cast too. After I told him that story, old friend "Uncle Jack Hise" made Tori a short bamboo fly rod that she treasures to this day...NOONE uses that rod but Tori. I'll never be able to thank Jack enough!
Sadly, I won't be teaching the kids to tie due to failing close-up vision & poor skills to begin with, but they catch, help clean, help cook, & EAT the fish.
We'll both leave this world with some youngsters loving this wonderful sport & that's a good thing.

Mike

[hap]

Thanks ohiotuber... but I must ask, does that make you a potato?

We were fishing in a very public place with tons of boats running by... we were "hidden" in plain view, but too close to access for anyone to bother us. We had hundreds of tightly packed fish and no company. Because silvers are incredibly spooky we had to deal with things very carefully to keep from spooking the hole. We fish the margins and immediately get the fish OUT of the hole. We were able to extract and retain 14 in a steady stream. We knelt in tall grass and kept shadows off the water. My granddaughter understood the reasons and the policies very quickly. She understood when we stopped fishing and gave the hole a rest, even though there was no slowing of the fishing. She understood when I told her that if we kept doing what we were doing it would put them down and then we would have to wait much longer. She got it...

It is a place I have fished for many decades and Riley grew up running river boats. He has built two mini jet boats and has many youtube videos and has a serious understanding of running wild water in little jet boats. Take a look at his videos by searching for "riley peck alaska mini boats" or a second "son" eben fiorentino" to see some interesting videos.

Start with this one...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5_9sUlTxWk

[Z]

Very nice to hear from you Hap! My granddaughter is 27 months old and is now living in Italy. I sure wish I could take her out fishing!

Z

[hap]

I understand completely! My granddaughter caught her two silvers this morning, 100% legally and ethically. She is counting the numbers of people she is feeding with every fish. My grandson caught one silver 100% upright... at 22 months... he intended to carry it around under his arm like a loaf of bread. He later set the hook on another and decided he needed to check out his toy truck rather than fight his fish... Kids are fun!!!