Whether or not you agree with measures taken to handle COVID-19, it is clear that daily routines of students have been significantly affected. Depending upon age and location, children and teenagers may very well be spending the bulk of their day in front of a screen. While this impacts reading, writing, and arithmetic, there are a whole host of other parts of school that have been altered. Sports, field trips, and clubs generally face stricter regulations than the core subjects. Often, this means they’re eliminated.
Kids bear the brunt, but they can’t do a whole lot about it. Who can do something about it is invested teachers. Teachers like Beau Davies.
Beau teaches and coaches at a middle school outside of Denver. “It is a great school with a lot for the kids to do. Usually, we’re a really club-heavy school. Missing that has been tough. For the kids, but for the teachers as well.”
When he’s not teaching, coaching, or spending time with his family, Beau also likes to fly fish. It is a passion that he shares in the classroom. During the shift to online learning, he’s not only continued to talk about fishing but has invited his students to get involved. “To give them something to do we decided to get some virtual clubs going. It just made sense to give a fly tying club a shot.”
The format is pretty simple: Beau shares a YouTube video that he thinks would be helpful for a simple pattern. The kids have a chance to tie before “club” on Zoom. Then, they get online together, tie, and talk about what they’re doing. “It isn’t perfect. It would be best to sit next to them and show them how to do it. But it seems to be working pretty well.”
Part of the reason it is working pretty well is the generosity of companies, including local fly shops. Beau reached out to a handful of people in the fly fishing industry. At the end of the day, he had enough donations to assemble big packages for every participating student. “They all even got hats and plenty of stickers!” Which, of course, are necessary to make the transition into being a legitimate fly fisher.
Along with the tying sessions, Beau has led online sessions where he walks his students through fly fishing gear, important knots, and other pertinent topics. “The plan is to keep this going until we can transition to meeting in person. From there, hopefully we can organize some fishing trips. It has started small, but it is great to see how it has sparked conversations and gotten kids to talk about fly fishing.”
Beau’s virtual fly tying club has started small. But he’s lit a fire in a few teenagers that is not only keeping them occupied while their worlds are upside-down – it has them interested in fly tying, fishing, and ultimately being a part of everything that we all know those things entail. It is a little effort, but it is worth it. Plus, for someone who is always trying to incorporate fly fishing into other parts of life, it is fun.
Beau Davies is also the man behind Beards & Brooks. In his Etsy shop, he sells hand-tied flies and custom nets. The nets are repurposed, repainted racquets (full size, racquetball, or youth, depending on your size preference). Along with adding a catch-and-release net, he weaves paracord onto the handle. In a pinch, it can be detached for any emergency purpose.