From: 07/04/2017
To: 07/04/2017
Type of Water: Freshwater
Species: Rainbow trout, Brown trout
I'm always nervous leading up to a trip. I want every one of my clients to catch a fish and enjoy their time on the water. There are so many variables that factor into a clients success that have nothing to do with a guides skill or experience and that's why I'm always so nervous. This trip was a husband and wife, no fly fishing experience for either, early July (not optimal fishing time), and only a 4 hour half day trip.! Needless to say I didn't sleep at all the night before.
After the first five minutes on the water it seemed my sleepless night was 150% warranted and I was starting to think a successful day meant just teaching them to cast properly let alone hooking a fish.
We started fishing in the same location as a few of my other trips. It's really the perfect spot for inst View more...I'm always nervous leading up to a trip. I want every one of my clients to catch a fish and enjoy their time on the water. There are so many variables that factor into a clients success that have nothing to do with a guides skill or experience and that's why I'm always so nervous. This trip was a husband and wife, no fly fishing experience for either, early July (not optimal fishing time), and only a 4 hour half day trip.! Needless to say I didn't sleep at all the night before.
After the first five minutes on the water it seemed my sleepless night was 150% warranted and I was starting to think a successful day meant just teaching them to cast properly let alone hooking a fish.
We started fishing in the same location as a few of my other trips. It's really the perfect spot for instructing beginning fly anglers and the wading is relatively easy. I can put two anglers close to each other and instruct at the same time without them being too close and getting tangled with each other. Lou the husband was an experienced fisherman just not with the fly rod. I new he would quickly grasp the concept and sure enough he did. He was off and flying so I focused my attention with his wife Megan. Megan was struggling with the casting aspect of the sport and I had to keep reinforcing the technique side with her. With only a 4 hour window I had to work fast and to her credit she started making it work.
After Megan was comfortable enough with her casting, we worked on her drifting. As with all of my new fly fishing clients we use an indicator with our nymph rigs. It drifts easier and is easier for beginning fly anglers to grasp and understand what's going on with their flies. She took to the drifting part very well and was putting the casting and drifting together very well. My hopes were rising and it wasn't long before Megan was hooked up!! I almost lost it when I saw her rod bent and she was fighting a nice first fly rod fish! Unfortunately, I was downstream attending to Lou and was unable to coach her through and the fish through her fly!
After fixing Lou's tangle I worked my way back up to check Megans flies and work on a few casting instructions with her when Lou was hooked up! I was able to coach Lou through and we landed his first fly caught Spring Creek Wild Trout! Watching the excitement on Lou's face is why I do what I do! I absolutely love teaching and helping people catch fish on a fly.
We worked this first spot over pretty good and we only had a few more hours so I moved them to a new fresh spot. I felt Lou was comfortable enough with his casting that I put him in a nice spot with over hanging tree limbs and I took Megan a little ways up stream to a productive riffle. I like to fish these shallow riffles with a dry dropper rig and I was confident in Megans casting ability to change her set up. She took to casting the new dry fly dropper rig like a seasoned vet and within a few drifts she was hooked up again! Again she did everything right but the fish had other intentions and spit the fly!
Lou on the other hand was rocking and rolling and caught several more stream bred trout. Megan lost one more fish and had several others strike her dry fly but we couldn't get one to stick. We had a blast fishing together and the fact that both anglers had success was a testament to their fishing ability and their willingness to learn. I'm very proud of both Lou and Megan but especially for Megan after seeing where she started to where she finished.
The productive flies were a Blue Winged Olive Soft Hackle, Zebra Midge, and San Juan Worm. Water temp was 60 degrees and air temperature was 85 degrees and sunny!
