On a Lighter Note

Since I "owed" The Duke an outing, I took him out 2 weeks before the One Fly in search of his first troot on the fly. Prior to that, his success had been limited to these guys:


So we headed out. Despite the warmth of the day, fall was definitely in the air...


I thought for sure we'd get into fish right away. I put The Duke on the fishiest of the fishy areas, hoping he'd get some quick play. Three hours into it, and we couldn't buy a bite. I encouraged him to hang in there, change up his offerings, and above all, just be patient.

But before too long even I was getting frustrated with my "guiding" abilities. We got out and walked to a different area much farther downstream. The Duke was getting hungry (as teenagers will). So I told him, "Much as I hate to walk away from good-looking water, we'll give this spot a try and if nothing happens, we'll get going."

I found a deadfall that piqued my curiosity. While The Duke was tying on another offering, I thought I'd drift my chartreuse Zonker past the blowdown and strip it back. Thought twice about it said, "Nah...let him do it." I gave him a little advice and slowly waded up and across stream...equally as fishy...maybe I could coax something out from under the bank.

I had talked too much and bombarded the kid with words of encouragement. Thought I'd just shut up and let him fish for awhile.



I turned around to check on him, only to see him with a FISH ON...he'd never said a word...just started bringing him in. I grabbed my camera to shoot a quick pic...note the grin.



Got in closer for a hero pic - Young Jedi must learn the Uberflysnob Code of Conduct. He was getting ready to release it. I threw him my Landing Hand and he pulled the fish up out of the water for an even larger surprise!





Then I noticed the fly in the Native's mouth. It was one of my first bugger ties...hideous in all respects, including the four-times-too-large hackle I'd used.

We turned the brookie loose and headed back to camp for a bite to eat...but not before a "Proud Papa" moment. Can't wait to finish my Mancave and hang some of these memories on the wall.

nice read; sounds like you had a good time... good that the boy learned persistence pays off..

Way to go

Awesome read and great pics, man! Always cool to see even the smaller brookies getting kyped out.

Great job Syd and even better job Duke!
 
If there were just a craft brewed root beer in one of those photos, Duke would immediately be elidgible for the junior division of the Ubersnob Flyfishing Association.  The craft brewed requirement can be waived, however, should an angler (that's UFA speak for a fisherperson) were to testify that the fish was caught by fishing a dry fly, upstream only, to only visibly feeding fish or known lies.