Pass It On

Last week I had the pleasure to spend the morning taking two, of the most avid outdoors people, I know fishing. Mike has harvested just about every big game animal in North America and Jess spent her summers growing up at her Dad's lodge in Illiamna. I kept telling Mike how good the fishing was and he wouldn't even consider fishing until he harvested his elk. With fresh elk meat in the freezer, we decided to take our two boys out fishing for the morning on a local river.

If you have ever tried planning a last minute fly fishing trip with a couple of 4 year olds, you know how hard that can be. Pushing on, we made it happen and a couple hours later Mike and Jess were at the boat ramp with their oldest son in tow. The morning was perfect. High overcast, mahogany's, tricos, and caddis everywhere and the fish were up eating.

We found a few good pods of fish that were so keyed in on Tricos that they wouldn't even think about eating anything else. We began changing flies to see what they preferred and finally got a few to eat.

The boys went bonkers with every fish we hooked! I was afraid several times that they were going to fall off the boat just from leaning over the side so far to look at the fish in the clear water. Both kids managed to land a couple fish and not break them off on 5x. It was a very fun morning that I will remember for a long time. It was good to see Mike and Jess passing their love, for the outdoors, on to their son. With love for the outdoors, comes a responsibility to help protect it for others and future generations. Remember to not only take people outdoors, but share with them why it is so special to you and why it is important to protect the wild places we have left. Watching a 4 year old scream with joy at the top of his lungs over a small native cutthroat is certainly worth it.