Time: 10:30AM – 3:15PM
Location: National Forest land
Willow Creek 07/17/2024 Photo Album
Note: In order to protect small high country streams, I have chosen to change the name for a few. This particular creek happens to be one of them. Excessive exposure could lead to crowding and lower fish densities.
A friend of mine from college asked me to mentor his grandson, who displayed a new interest in fly fishing. My friend’s sixteen year old grandson, Ben, lives in Golden, CO, and he recently took up fly fishing. I eagerly agreed to the proposal, as I am a proponent of introducing young folks to my favorite pastime. Increasing the participation in fly fishing can only help promote conservation efforts and the health of our fish stocks and waterways. With the serious threat of climate change more advocates to protect the environment is a necessity.
I communicated with Ben’s mother, Alison, and we arranged to meet on Wednesday morning at 8:30AM. Ben’s house was along the route to the stream that I chose, I provided a list of essentials for a day of fly fishing to Alison, and when I arrived at their house Ben was prepared and eager.
We made the drive to a pullout near the stream, and Ben prepared to fish, while I did the same. A coworker with Ben’s father gave him two fly rods, and Ben assembled his 8.5 foot two piece six weight. I did not plan to fish, but I built my Orvis Access four weight just in case. The only gear that I provided was a small net with a retractor and clip.
Prime PoolOnce we were ready, we hiked down the road a short distance, and then we cut to the creek. I asked Ben to make some casts, and he displayed some of the typical beginner faults such as moving the rod tip too far between the forward and back casts. I offered some tips for improvement, and by the end of the day, Ben was tossing fifty foot casts to target areas. Once I was convinced that Ben was able to target casts that would generate positive results, we launched our day.
My Client on WednesdayBetween 10:30AM and 3:15PM we covered a significant amount of stream real estate, and Ben landed nineteen wild trout. In his words, he quintupled his lifetime number of fish landed! He was a quick study and greatly improved his ability to cast, read the water, and strip line to eliminate slack before setting the hook. He also improved his ability to handle fish, remove the fly and keep his catches wet.
Brook Trout NettedBen was the perfect guiding client. He said thank you to me for everything I did. He was attentive and accepting of instruction and polite to the extreme. He even pretended to be interested in my fish stories.
Pretty Fish
I managed to land a couple brook trout along the way, but I mostly assisted and avoided fly fishing for one day. Over the course of the day Ben landed eighteen brook trout and one brown trout. He was rather excited to net the brown trout, and we both agreed that he hooked two additional browns that he failed to land. The brook trout were splendid fish, and they splashed all the colors of the rainbow. Ben could barely contain his admiration for the small jewels that rested in his net. Most of the trout crushed the hippie stomper, although a beadhead pheasant tail yielded a few in the early afternoon, and in the late going he nabbed a few on a yellow stimulator and olive-brown size 16 deer hair caddis. Ben got a taste of dry fly fishing, dry/dropper and double dry approaches.
Quick Release
Promising Spot AheadI was very proud of Ben’s improvement and accomplishment. Hopefully he gets additional opportunities in the near future to reinforce his newly acquired skills. I would be open to additional fishing outings, although in the future I would not be the guide, but instead I would be a fishing companion.
Fish Landed: 2