Yesterday I went fishing with my 15 1/2 year old grandson, Conner. We went up the road to our neighbors pond and tried for Bluegill and Bass. Nothing out of the ordinary here....we've been fishing many times before. The difference yesterday was that Conner was fly fishing for the first time on the 7'9" fly rod I made him and made his first fly casts.
Conner took to fly fishing and soon caught 5 willing Bluegills. He soon got the hang of casting...roll casting and even caught his first fly on a backcast. He learned to strip a streamer and caught a few more on a big foam ant that had seen better days but was still very attractive to the eager little fish.
His first Bluegill came as quite a surprise to him when he felt the tug. He learned good C&R techniques....wet hands and also learned about the dorsal spines on the feisty little fish.
Pretty soon he had five to hand and a lot more missed strikes.
The fish weren't very big. The pond is just around the corner from our place. We both had an incredible time and he told me that he really liked fly fishing. "You have to think about things...it's not like throwing lures out". I couldn't have been prouder if he had just pulled a 20 inch Brown from the E. Walker.
A trip to the Bishop area is on tap and we will outfit him with the basics in addition to his rod. Looking forward to many more wonderful days with my new fishing partner.