THIS SUMMER
This summer will either prove to be my greatest achievement as a father or the death of me. For about 4 months now my oldest son (Micah) has been asking me to teach him how to “throw a fly rod”. Micah is six, all boy, never listening, always eating, and goes full speed. So like all good fathers have done, I have put off teaching him using the normal excuses like you have soccer, a birthday party to go to, and I have yard work to do. I thought about trying this last year but he was just happy going fishing and I did not want to mess with that. I had asked many questions on the bulletin board and gotten great advice but I think the best was to wait, and Micah would tell me when he was ready to learn to fly fish.
As the summer heats up and soccer is over for now, I am running out of excuses. I have also realized that fly fishing at my house has almost stopped. Before my wife and I had kids, fishing came just about every other day if only for an hour or so. Back then we lived in a nice little two story about a block from a small pond that had very large blue gills that were very eager for a fly. As the family grew, I now have two sons Micah and Jonas. Then I became a “responsible” adult. We moved into a bigger home far away from that nice little pond.
Growing up as a kid my father liked fishing but only if you were catching fish. I remember going several times with him and after less than an hour of not catching anything he was ready to go even though I would have stayed there all day. I always wanted to go fishing but most of the time he had something else he needed to do. My dad and I were best friends but our interests were very different. I loved sports of any kind and always wanted to go hiking and fishing. My dad was more of a gardener and a reader. My mother though that all this talk of fishing was just crazy and a hobby that cost too much and a waste of time. (I think the main thing is she did not like worms)
My father did not know anything about fly fishing. I started my obsession in college after one of my best friends got a fly rod for Christmas. He had a book with some pictures in it and we sat out in the field and tried to figure this thing called fly fishing out. Well to say the least, we were hooked. Living and fly fishing in South Carolina you get a lot of strange looks and a lot of “boy you will never catch fish like that except if you are fishing for trout”. Things have changed a lot since then. Now I get a lot of “What fly are you using? How long have you been fly fishing?”
This is why I must teach Micah to fly fish this summer. Not that it gives me a reason to go fly fishing but that it is our time that he will always remember. I want to teach him that fly fishing for Large Mouth and Brim is just as acceptable as a bait caster. Micah loves going fishing with his Zebco, a cork, and a cricket and if after trying fly fishing he wants to go back to his Zebco that is fine with me. The most important part is Micah is like me he will sit there all day just enjoying fishing even if there are no fish caught. Now for Micah, this is very different. He normally is all about the score and making that goal to win.
So this leads to my conundrum, I do not want to get him frustrated and broken by forcing him to “practice” fly fishing. What if he cannot get down the timing? What if he does not like fly fishing? What if he likes soccer better? What if he likes it so much that is all he talks about? What if he wants to fly fishing for a living? My head is spinning from all the thoughts.
I have him a mid-flex seven and a half foot four weight that I think will work great for him. I had posted last year on the bulletin board about what size and weight rod would you choose for your child to start with and through the generosity of some of our members in a few weeks we had a completed outfit at no cost to us.
Well the next question is how to teach him to fly fish. He has seen me fly fishing a few times. He says that it looks easy. We have a nice quiet park not far from our house where we are going to start. We are going to start out with short cast about ten to fifteen feet. My biggest concern is slowing his arm down. I am hoping that just by watching he can catch on. I do not want to over teach and bore him so I am going to skip the science behind loading the rod for right now. Then back to that small pond near our old house to chase the gills. There we will start roll casting. I cannot believe I totally forgot about knots and how to match the hatch. Maybe I am taking this thing to fast let’s just start with the cast and let the fun begin. This summer is really going to be a big achievement or it is going to be the death of me.
This is just the first page of the story. Page two later this year.
If at first you don't succeed;’ then sky diving may not be the sport for you
Jason Yonally aka Threedayweekend