My Daughter's First Day Fly Fishing

[np36]

Great time on the Farmington with Fred Jeans ... no fish landed, but I think new commonality was formed between my and my 13 year old.

On The Farmington

JI

[AaronJasper]

Is Fred a guide?

We did very well the last few days. We had around 20 give or take today and a little more than that yesterday. The fishing was pretty good. One of the clients was brand new to trout fishing. He had 8 all on his own this morning! The water temps was 65.6 at 12:20 today.

[kyle]

Are you fishing the farm tomarrow aaron?

[AaronJasper]

Nope. I am giving the river a day off. I will be there a lot over the next week!

[np36]

Yeah ... We were there almost two weeks ago and the water was wicked high. He put her on fish and she hooked two, but wasn't able to land them. Next time.

JI

[AaronJasper]

Wow 2 trips and zero fish! That's getting expensive!

[alanb_ct]

np36: Good for you taking your daughter out! That looks like a memorable experience. The video is really professional.

As far as the fishing and guiding, I'm going to say what I think a lot of us are thinking. I have nothing against this specific guide, and in fact, I have seen lots of guides like this on the river. I also have a 13 year old daughter, and I can say with certainty she does not care about detailed entomology. She does enjoy nature and tromping around through the woods. I can't understand why a guide would waste time explaining the difference between emergers and duns to a child! This may sound arrogant, but I am confident many of us here could have figured out how to have your daughter catch at least one trout, even a little one, even in high water, on a subsurface food item. The Farmington is simply loaded with fish! I see no point in fishing dries with a child at first, let them catch a few to feel the rod bend. You might consider another guide next time, for a different experience. The dry fly / emerger speech smacks of the sort of fly-fishing elitism I can't stand! This is just my opinion.

Again, good for you spending time with your daughter! Thanks for sharing the experience with us.

[NJFred]

Great video. II'm sure you'll remember the trip forever (and have a nice video to live the moment again and again)

I'm not going to comment on the guide and what he did or didn't do as 2 minutes of snippets of an entire day certainly allows no conclusions to be drawn.

I do differ with one of the posters in that it's better to focus the new fisherman on rising fish than underneath (assuming they aren't too far out and can be reached by a new caster). First, casting to rising fish is very visual and tends to capture interest. They know a fish is there as they can see it so it boosts confidence. Fishing with nymphs can take a bit more skill

The important thing is of course that the new fisherman has fun! She sure looked like she enjoyed it!

[alanb_ct]

NJF: Good points. I have had all of my kids successfully Euro nymphing this year. It is so highly productive, they don't get bored. I guess what I am saying is if you are trying to develop lifelong fly-fishing skills, then casting and entomology are important. If you are just trying to go out, have fun, and catch a few, maybe the nymph is the way to go.

[AaronJasper]

I believe that the first few times out have to be about catching fish and having fun. The rod has to be bent. Getting skunked for a beginner is un-acceptable! A good guide can and will get the customer fish, that is if they know enough! If they are lacking skills, well, you get nothing more than an eco tour or entamology class! I am not into taking money for nothing. I take a lot of kids out and they catch fish! She will probably forget about the bug lesson in a year or two BUT she will never forget that she caught nothing on her first two attempts.