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My son, who is all of twelve years of wonder, and I,
left out this Sunday past for a trip of discovery. To
seek out new fishing water and explore a new river.
Our destination was the Paluxy river. Armed with a
map and two fly rods we were not prepared for the
wonder and beauty of this small spring fed river.
Our first exposure to this new frontier came in the
form of a very shallow run of crystal clear water that
ran into a very deep hole. Trying not to let my son's
hopes run too high, I warned him that since the area
we were in was near a road, the fishing would be
difficult. Mother Nature has a way of proving us wrong
and as usual I was her target today. I tied on a
prince and in short time we had landed a small bass
and a nice sunfish.
We took a break from the fly rod so that I could show
my son what we were tying to imitate with our flys. I
started flipping rocks over and showed him some
nymphs. He really liked looking for the little
creatures so I turned him loose on the river and went
to cast some flys. No sooner than I got back to the
hole I heard him yell out "Whoa, What the ..., Dad get
over here". He had found a two and a half inch
Hellgrammite. After telling him not to pick it up, I
quickly grabbed it with my hemostat. I tied on a plain
#10 hook, put the Hellgrammite on and cast it into the
hole. Two seconds later I had hooked into a 14"
catfish. I handed him the fly rod and he brought in a
black bass of equal length.
We spent the day catching fish, learning the river,
and having the time of our lives. I can think of no
better way to spend a day with someone you love. In
his eyes I see the wonder and beauty our world has to
offer and I feel young again all over.
~ Kevin L Hensley (Jargo)
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