“He needs to know what kind of fishing it is going to be.”
My wife was all for the 11 year old joining me on a trip to a tiny, tight, brook trout creek. Being a mom, she also had the intuition to identify some vital qualifiers of which he needed to be apprised. Casting was going to be difficult. The fish were going to be small. Dad was going to be fishing. Of course, I would help in a knot/wading/sasquatch emergency: but she wanted to protect my angling interests.
He accepted the terms, loaded up his sling pack, and hopped in the car. We headed into the woods and onto one of my favorite local creeks. It was rough going for a bit, but he did well. I stuck close and gave some quick pointers, trying not to overwhelm him as he is capable of learning from trial and error. The trout were spooky. He had some strike at his foam beetle. None came to hand. He still had fun. That’s all that matters.
Walking back to the car, I tried to distill my approach to these tiny creeks down into a few pointers. Here are the four things I told him he needs to do to fish small streams well:
You have to focus.
In small streams you usually only get one shot at fish. That means the margin for presentation errors is minute. Assess your back cast, your casting lane, and your line and fly’s trajectory. Make sure there are no tangles. Even walking through the brush can be a hassle if you aren’t paying attention to where your line is.
You have to be a predator.
These fish don’t have the benefit of being in the top three quarters of the food chain. Aside from bugs, everything in their ecosystem is trying to eat them. Shadows, silhouettes, and flashes of movement will send them running for cover. Camo is good, but purposeful and slow movement is better. Think then move.
You have to appreciate it.
There are a handful of larger rivers nearby where we could wade into the tail end of a pool or even right into a riffle. We could stay there for an hour, casting and talking. The chances of catching a decent sized trout would be good, too. But these fish are native brookies. I’m not alone in appreciating the qualitative superiority of the pursuit.
You have to see the adventure.
The cumulative effect of the whole experience is a lot different than most fly fishing. He needs to know what kind of fishing it is going to be. I agree wholeheartedly. It is special fishing in a special place. The large deer tracks, curious amphibians, and wild ferns add a whole other facet to what is urban trout angling.
Long story short: he agreed. Without even catching a fish, mind you. I think he is well on his way to knowing what kind of fishing it is.