From: 11/12/2017
To: 11/12/2017
Type of Water: Freshwater
Species: Steelhead
Nothing brings me any more pleasure than helping someone catch their first fish on a fly rod, or guiding someone to their first Steelhead or Wild Trout for that matter. There is a certain amount of pride involved in watching that person follow your instruction and succeed in accomplishing that goal. That was the case with this young lady when she caught her first Steelhead and her first ever fish on a fly rod!
The conditions were less than ideal with low clear water and a frigid wind from the North. After some initial instruction I put Ashley in a productive run that had a few fish holding in it. She took to the casting very well and it wasn't long before she was drifting like a seasoned pro. But despite her awesome presentation the fish remained lock jawed and wound't bite. I changed View more...Nothing brings me any more pleasure than helping someone catch their first fish on a fly rod, or guiding someone to their first Steelhead or Wild Trout for that matter. There is a certain amount of pride involved in watching that person follow your instruction and succeed in accomplishing that goal. That was the case with this young lady when she caught her first Steelhead and her first ever fish on a fly rod!
The conditions were less than ideal with low clear water and a frigid wind from the North. After some initial instruction I put Ashley in a productive run that had a few fish holding in it. She took to the casting very well and it wasn't long before she was drifting like a seasoned pro. But despite her awesome presentation the fish remained lock jawed and wound't bite. I changed her fly and still the fish wouldn't take. Anyone else would of been deterred but not Ashley! She inquired about the bright orange egg fly in my box...the one that I have been intentionally not using because of the low clear water. My rule of thumb is low clear water calls for small natural colored flies. This fly was anything but, but I decided to let her learn the hard way.
I tied the large, bright colored fly on and she waded out to to her comfort distance and cast. First drift and nothing.....second drift nothing....third drift and her indicator went down and I yelled for her to set the hook..which she did...I think lol But she was hooked up and the Steelhead was doing everything it could to shake the hook, including a few acrobatic jumps. Ashley was able to handle everything the fish could throw at her and we both were so excited when I was able to get the fish into the net. After some pictures Ashley released her first ever Steelhead back into the stream..
That was the only fish she was able to hook up with but it didn't matter to either of us. The joy and excitement from that one fish carried us through the rest of the cold and windy day.
