PassItOn: First Time Ties w/ CRC Kids

About six weeks back, Samantha Stevens approached me about setting up a day to try out fly fishing for her Community Rec Center group. In her words: "My goal is to try and get kids more interested in new sports and outdoor activities, so I thought fly fishing would be a great activity to foster that idea. I was thinking that it would be fun and interesting for the kids to learn fly tying, which could take place over the course of an hour or two. We have a room available at the rec center that could be used, or we can meet wherever is most convenient for you. After that, we could go to a Pond to practice some casting and fishing skills."

Promoting fly fishing is what I do and I was excited to have the opportunity to offer a fly tying and casting/fishing introduction to Sam’s youth group.

This past Wednesday, Wayne Jordan and I met Samantha and her kids at the Great Falls Community Recreation Center.

In short order, we went through basic thread work, practiced attaching chenille to a hook and then worked on wrapping a rooster hackle. Then we put all the steps together and everyone successfully tied their first fly, the venerable Wooly Bugger.

After a break for lunch, it was time to deploy the buggers on a local pond. Despite strong Montana winds, our youthful group quickly got lines unrolled and soon, cries of "I’ve got one" where heard.

It’s pretty cool to tie a first fly and then go out immediately and catch a fish or two on it. Well done everyone!

Montana bass really liked those freshly tied buggers.

Samantha’s plan was spot on with our way of thinking and Wayne and I enjoyed the opportunity to get outside and promote fly fishing to a new generation.I’d like to shout out a special thank you to our customers who donated to our #passiton program. We put a bunch of your passed on rods and fly tying vises to good use.