After a successful first backpacking trip a week ago with our four year old (where she hiked on her own), we got a call from a friend saying they had a permit for a beautiful lake in Central Oregon for the weekend of the 4th. This hike was a bit longer for the kid so we checked in with her to make sure she wanted to backpack in. Her answer was "Okie dokie Papa. But if you're going to fish, I want my own fishing pole." Two days later, thanks to a very kind forum member she has an Echo Gecko to call her own. Don't worry, I'm fully aware that starting them with fly fishing instead of a spinning rod is a hard sell on keeping them interested. But we gave her the option and she "wanted to be like Papa". I also fully understand when we got this for her the chances of her catching a fish on the fly were slim, let alone on a dry fly. I had these grand plans of starting a thread where the goal was to get her on a fish by the end of summer (as long as she was interested, this couldn't involve coercing her!).
Well. Cue the tape!
We left Saturday morning and by the time we found a site, we did 2.5 miles (Not going to lie, I miss 10+ mile days). We had 4 adults, my girl and a pup. When she starts to get tired we tell long, run-on nonsensical stories. They get weird, and it's a lot of fun.
We got to camp and it was a pretty moody, beautiful scene. The Bear Grass was going off and Three Fingered Jack was still chock full of snow.
She wanted to get right to it, so we rigged up and waded in. She was perfectly content just "casting" from the shore, but she really wanted to catch a fish so she jumped on my shoulders into casting range of rising fish. She can whip it out to about 15' -- call it a 9' leader plus 6' of line. It's more of a water load/roll cast situation, but it works.
Helping get water for dinner.
Did I mention the Bear Grass was going off?!
Day 2 amounted to doing a bit of fishing and a day hike. She put in another 1.5 cruising around the lake and looking for a waterfall.
I landed 4 fish for the weekend: 1 12" fish caught on a bugger and 3 dinks caught on a chubby (these are primarily family trips with a side of fishing ).
Day three (the 4th) finally gave us the best weather of the trip. She wanted to get out once more before we did the 2 mile hike out. She asked to change her fly because her "fly wasn't working". Naturally she picked a black and purple Chubby that she started to call the Bert Fly. She hopped on my shoulders and got to work. Now if you've ever fished with a kid (or just been around a kid in general) you know that have very little patience. She she tends to just cast, then immediately recast and then immediately recast again. This morning I finally got her to relax and let the fly just sit for a minute or so in between casts. After about 20 minutes or so, I shit you not, a little 6" dink exploded on her Chubby. It missed the first time, the fly popped 2-3" in the air and when it landed, the fish came back for a second round and this time, FISH ON. I can't tell you how excited she was. It got hectic REAL QUICK. Remember, she's on my shoulders and as bad as I want her to land this fish, I want her to do it on her own. So I start with trying to just get her to reel it in (because she knows how to use the reel) but in her excitement she was reeling backwards (I was at least pinching the line for her). Then I direct her to start stripping, again, I'm doing this with her on my shoulders, in the water balancing on big rocks trying to not send us both into the drink. There was so much commotion with her yelling, mom cheering her on and me trying to guide her. After what was probably too long of a fight for that little fish we get it to our side and I'm able to kind of shake it loose. There was unfortunately no way we were going to get a picture of it with her on my shoulders and without a net. Honestly, she didn't care one bit and neither did I because she caught a fish!
Well. Cue the tape!
We left Saturday morning and by the time we found a site, we did 2.5 miles (Not going to lie, I miss 10+ mile days). We had 4 adults, my girl and a pup. When she starts to get tired we tell long, run-on nonsensical stories. They get weird, and it's a lot of fun.
We got to camp and it was a pretty moody, beautiful scene. The Bear Grass was going off and Three Fingered Jack was still chock full of snow.
She wanted to get right to it, so we rigged up and waded in. She was perfectly content just "casting" from the shore, but she really wanted to catch a fish so she jumped on my shoulders into casting range of rising fish. She can whip it out to about 15' -- call it a 9' leader plus 6' of line. It's more of a water load/roll cast situation, but it works.
Helping get water for dinner.
Did I mention the Bear Grass was going off?!
Day 2 amounted to doing a bit of fishing and a day hike. She put in another 1.5 cruising around the lake and looking for a waterfall.
I landed 4 fish for the weekend: 1 12" fish caught on a bugger and 3 dinks caught on a chubby (these are primarily family trips with a side of fishing ).
Day three (the 4th) finally gave us the best weather of the trip. She wanted to get out once more before we did the 2 mile hike out. She asked to change her fly because her "fly wasn't working". Naturally she picked a black and purple Chubby that she started to call the Bert Fly. She hopped on my shoulders and got to work. Now if you've ever fished with a kid (or just been around a kid in general) you know that have very little patience. She she tends to just cast, then immediately recast and then immediately recast again. This morning I finally got her to relax and let the fly just sit for a minute or so in between casts. After about 20 minutes or so, I shit you not, a little 6" dink exploded on her Chubby. It missed the first time, the fly popped 2-3" in the air and when it landed, the fish came back for a second round and this time, FISH ON. I can't tell you how excited she was. It got hectic REAL QUICK. Remember, she's on my shoulders and as bad as I want her to land this fish, I want her to do it on her own. So I start with trying to just get her to reel it in (because she knows how to use the reel) but in her excitement she was reeling backwards (I was at least pinching the line for her). Then I direct her to start stripping, again, I'm doing this with her on my shoulders, in the water balancing on big rocks trying to not send us both into the drink. There was so much commotion with her yelling, mom cheering her on and me trying to guide her. After what was probably too long of a fight for that little fish we get it to our side and I'm able to kind of shake it loose. There was unfortunately no way we were going to get a picture of it with her on my shoulders and without a net. Honestly, she didn't care one bit and neither did I because she caught a fish!