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Your Child's First Fly-Fishing
Trip: Wisdom to Impart
by Benjamin Hirsch
The most universal truth to the question "Why do you
fish" is that fishermen are storytellers. Fishing gives
us stories to tell: some good, some bad, and
occasionally, a heck of a story. Fly fishing, though, is
more than just storytelling; it is poetry. Fly fisherman
love to tell stories about the subtle perfection to
landing a dry fly on a river, the inherent qualities of
their equipment and the skill it takes to land an
18-inch brown trout on a 6X tippet.
There comes a time when the poetry of fly fishing
necessarily turns into a Dr. Seuss tale.
It starts like this: You're heading out the door, vest
under your arm, fly rod in hand, and a little boy (or
girl) with eyes that resemble yours is standing there
blinking in his pajamas, scratching his exposed tummy
and looking with pure desire at you and asking if he can
go too. If you can't think of a reason, a valid reason,
then it's time to teach him to fly fish.
You must immediately come to terms with a couple rules.
The first and most important: YOU WILL NOT CATCH ANY
FISH. That is one thing that must be learned
immediately, referred to occasionally and reminded of
constantly. The decisions you make are not going to be
to catch fish, but rather to teach your son how to fish.
If you try and ignore that rule, you'll have a miserable
time, your child will have a miserable time and you'll
probably turn them off of fishing for a while. So we
come to the next rule: YOU ARE DOING THIS FOR HIM, NOT
FOR YOU.
Rods
You will hear a lot of people tell you "You get what you
pay for". Yep, and if your child plays with it, what you
paid for will be broken.
Go cheap early. The fact is that you have to be more
concerned with quantity than quality when it comes to
buying a fly rod for your son, because you will be
buying more than one.
Your father played Zorro with your grandfather's rod and
broke the tip, you played Zorro with your father's rod
and broke the tip, your son will play Zorro with your
rod and break the tip. It can't be helped, it's genetic.
The story of your son carving "Z's" in trees with your
bamboo fly rod is not a story you want to tell over and
over again.
As to what size to use, I asked a number of guides what
they recommended, and I received a number of different
answers. On the one side, I was told that you have to
buy the kids an adult sized rod so they don't get into
any bad habits and can cast appropriately. On the other
side, I was told to get one as short as possible, as it
would be easier for him to use. I opted for the latter.
It seems to me that a four year old with limited
dexterity, limited strength, and limited attention is
not going to be able to handle an eight-foot rod. You
may see it otherwise, however when he smacks you in the
head on multiple occasions trying to learn how to cast
because it's too long, he'll have a story to tell.
Lines
Normally, you take care of your line. Your son will step
on it. Cut it down the middle. Tie it around sticks and
drag it und rocks and car tires along pavement. Again,
go cheap. Get a level fly line, so when he's frayed one
end, you cut it off and keep moving.
Apparel
As your grandfather told you "Don't be a fool, put on
your hat."
You have to wear a hat. Not a baseball cap, I mean an
honest to goodness wide brim hat. It covers your ears
from the sun, keeps the rain off, and most importantly,
the hat offers protection from errant flies.
I don't care if your friends will make fun of you,
calling you a "wanna be". Your friends will make a lot
more fun of you when you tell them the story of pulling
a fly out of the sunburned skin on your forehead than if
you had worn your hat in the first place.
Waders
Don't wear them. If you are fishing in an area wear you
can't wear sandals or it's deeper than ankle deep you
shouldn't be wading to begin with.
If it is so deep that you need waders, it's too deep for
your son to safely wade and keep his balance. Watching
you try and run down the river after your son will
provide years of entertainment to your friends, more so
than the hat thing.
Flies
This is a touchy subject. Your first concern is safety.
Telling your wife that your son hooked himself is not a
story you particularly want to tell.
Your next concern is that your son understand he is
fishing, so you have to have a fly on, that he can see.
That means a big flashy fly. (Again, see rule #1 -
You're not going to catch anything anyway, so why not?)
Bass Poppers with the hooks snipped off work great for
this.
Form
Don't worry about proper form, tight loops, soft
delicate landings or presentation at first. That will
come in time when he begins to understand the
principles. He's just there to be there with his dad and
have fun.
On the off chance that he happens to land a trout with
out a barbed hook, then you've got a heck of a story,
which is some thing we all want to hear.
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