Earlier
this month I took Bill and his son Austin out for a couple of days of fishing.
The idea was to introduce Austin to fly fishing and Bill wanted to get in a
variety of fishing situations to maximize his fishing experience and hopefully
infect him with the fly fishing bug. I had taken him and his other son, Ethan,
out a few months ago, with the same goal. Based on the conditions we decided to
fish from the boat on the White and wade fish on the Norfork.
We
spent the first day drift fishing the White, in my White River Jon boat at Rim
Shoals. We arrived early, when there was still a heavy fog on the river. There
were no anglers but us. The day was sunny and warm and the Corps of Engineers
were running about 2,000 cubic feet per second or a little over one half of a
full generator. Austin had never fly fished for trout so I began the day with a
quick casting lesson. I rigged the fly rods with a flashback pheasant tail
nymph with a ruby midge dropper under an indicator.
Bill
was immediately on trout and was catching one after another. Austin was
struggling. He hooked plenty of fish but lost them, on the fight. Each time he
lost one, I carefully explained what he was doing wrong and how to avoid that
error. Bill continued his success and finished the day with over thirty trout.
I feared that Austin was getting frustrated. Every time he made a good cast or
proper mend I praised him and coached him every time he hooked up.
Finally,
near the end of the day he hooked a really good fish. I saw immediately that it
was a good brown. I moved forward in the boat net in hand. The fish was hot and
gave us three athletic jumps. It wanted none of the net. With a bit of coaching
from me, Austin fought it perfectly. All of the mistakes he made earlier in the
day had prepared him for this struggle. After what seemed like an eternity, the
big brown surrendered to the net. At a stout nineteen inches, it was easily the
big fish of the day. It was definitely a confidence builder for Austin. We
ended the day on a positive note.
The
next day we arrived at the Ackerman access early. The river was running at
minimum flow and was quite wadable. There were a few other anglers but it was
not crowded. We waded upstream into the Catch and Release section. I had rigged
them with the same flies that we had fished the day before except I used
lighter tippet, as the fish on the Norfork get more fishing pressure and tend
to be a bit more selective.
Bill
was into fish almost immediately. He landed a big rainbow and a fat brown that
was basically the same size as Austin had landed the previous day. Meanwhile
Austin was doing extremely well. It all came together for him. He landed trout
after trout with no problems. He really liked the wading better that fishing
from a boat and was now quite comfortable with his new found skills. The day
only got better for him and he ended up out fishing his dad.
We
all learn at different rates but, when it comes together, it comes together.
Austin is now very enthused and was discussing fly fishing opportunities near
his college. Mission accomplished!
John
Berry is a fly fishing guide for Blue Ribbon Guides in Cotter, Arkansas and has
fished our local streams for over thirty years.
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