Flows: 69 cfs
Water Temp: 46F @ 10:30a.
Water clarity: 6’
Air Temp: 36 @ 9:45a – 71 @ 4:30p.
Hatches: Tricos 11a – 12:30p. BWOs early to mid-afternoon.
While driving to Deckers with my 7 year old grandson Roman, I was wondering what was going through his mind. Was he excited to be out in the wilderness, or was he looking forward to catching fish, or seeing wildlife, or something else – or all of the above.
A high country adventure!
This outing came together pretty quickly. When I came home last Wednesday afternoon from a golf outing – Keeny informed me that Roman asked his mom to call to see if I would take him fishing. A short fall break was coming up and he would be off from school from the coming Thursday to next Tuesday.
Roman has an older brother, Carlos – and I don’t like to do something with one of them and not the other. And taking both of them on a fishing trip together was out of the question. So I had a short window of opportunity given that taking them out on the weekend wasn’t in the cards. And I had already committed to participating in a golf tournament on the coming Monday. So with a day to plan that left Friday and Tuesday as the only days available.
We usually get to fish together as a family at least once or twice a year. But as with everything else this year Covid altered our family outings – limiting them to only occasional get togethers in their backyard – or watching them from afar at the baseball fields. I had also planned to introduce them to fly fishing this year – but again Covid threw a wrench into that plan. Up to now.
I picked up Roman on Friday morning at 8:30a or so with hopes to get to the river by 10a so that we could hit the morning Trico hatch. My plan was to go to Fisherman’s Run, following Brian’s lead as he had taken his granddaughter there earlier. This spot has relatively easy access and is in an open space allowing for unobstructed casting and the fish sometime congregate near the shore. Together this makes for less technical fishing with a good chance of success. Top of mind for me was to make this as much fun as possible. And catching fish would definitely fit the bill!
When we arrived, there was a family in the run. It was a dad, his two daughters, and his dad. They were on the north side of the river and there was another guy just downstream from them fishing the Bridge Hole from the same side. This left us a sliver of space to fish the very end of Fisherman’s Run and the very beginning of the Bridge Hole from the south side of the river. Making it even better, I spotted some fish feeding there too!
The 1st fish of the day.
Photo by Roman Polce.
As we approached the run I had my fingers crossed that we would be able to take a couple of them in short order. Roman waited patiently as I tied on the flies. My plan was to start out using my fly rod. As a back-up, we brought his spin casting rod/reel, but I wanted to see if he could get one on the fly rod 1st.
I showed him the basic technique to complete a roll cast and was surprised that he was able to accomplish it within a few tries. But mending the line is more difficult to master and it was hard for him do. So he only had a short time with a dead drift. Even though, I’ve caught fish before with a very short time on a dead drift – so I was optimistic. But it wasn’t to be.
So I fished for a bit thinking that landing a fish would keep him interested and excited. By that time the fish that I originally spotted had disappeared. So we moved down a bit where we spotted a few more. As I fished for them, Roman measured the water temperature. After he did that he hung the thermometer on a tree branch. I asked him why, and he said he wanted to now get the air temperature. Before long I was getting readouts on the water and air temperature - both in Fahrenheit and Celsius.
Then I was able to hook up a nice brownie. It was a 15” female and after a brief struggle I got her close to shore where Roman netted her. He didn’t want handle the fish. He said it was the biggest fish he ever saw in person – and I think it intimidated him a bit. As I was freeing up my fly the fish began to release a bunch of eggs. (This is spawning season for brown trout)! This totally grossed Roman out.
Roman with one in the net!
After that we alternated fishing with the fly rod – then broke for lunch. After lunch we went back to the same spot and brought his spin casting outfit. Normally, I would tie on a bubble and use a swivel to tie the tippet to, then follow it with flies. But I didn’t have a bubble or a swivel. And trying to join tippet with the 6 pound test line probably wouldn’t work. So I tied on a streamer thinking that brownies are very territorial at this time of year due to spawning and they may hit it out of aggression.
Roman working the Bridge Hole with the streamer.
After a few demonstrations, Roman was able to cast the streamer – and was very good at it too! So for the better part of the afternoon, Roman worked his spin casting rod with the streamer in the Bridge Hole while I used the fly rod just upstream from him.
At one point, Roman got snagged up on what I thought was kelp. But he called out that he needed help in landing a big fish. As I was bringing my line in to go help him, I saw his line snap and there went Roman tumbling back onto the ground! He was more than a little excited about that experience!
Right after the line broke.
I tied on a wooly bugger to replace the streamer and for the rest of the afternoon we stayed in the same general area and traded off using the spin casting rod and fly rod. I was able to hook up four more fish, but only got one of them into the net. Roman decided he wanted to hold this one – another brownie - for a picture. But just as I was lining up the camera, the fish jumped out of his hands and into the river and was gone.
Roman back in action with the wooly bugger.
For a short period, I was getting a fish on every other cast out in the riffle at the end of Fisherman’s Run. But it was getting late and as quickly as it started – it stopped.
So we decided to call it a day - much later than I expected. All in all, I think Roman had a great time. He was able to successfully cast the fly rod, fish with a streamer, and learned a little more about fishing. I was surprised that he didn’t get bored and that he stayed with it for the whole day.
Most importantly – I think he had fun. I know I did!
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