I could tell by the bend in his rod as he reeled the fish in that it was a good-sized fish, and after a bit of a fight, he reeled it in to the dam’s edge, and I helped him net it. It was a monster! For a small stocked dam, it was a really big fish. Justin ran off with his prize, a grin on his face, for the trout to be cleaned and weighed. He returned a few minutes later to announce with immense pride that he had the record for the biggest fish of the past month to be landed at Bergsig. The monster trout (as it was already being called) weighed 784g! He then proceeded to land another two decent sized fish for the afternoon (though neither of those were quite the proportions of his first). And so, Justin out-fished us all, as I was the only other one to catch that afternoon, and only a single fish at that.
On the drive home, with Justin prattling on about his amazing big fish all the way, I reflected on the past 10 months that we have been fishing together as a family. We have found that it is a pastime that we all enjoy immensely, and we have found our stride, having decided to put off teaching the kids fly-fishing until they are a little older – until they can have the patience, and focus and endurance required to learn the more challenging art of fly casting. After we had made our decision to take up fly fishing as a family, at first we tried to teach our then 7- and 8-year-olds the technique required, and found out very quickly that it was an exercise in frustration, not only for us, but for them as well. They became demoralised and despondent because they could not cast well enough or far enough to have much chance of catching a fish, and were spending more time detangling their line from the weeds at the water’s edge than actually having a fly on the water. We nearly killed the dream for them, as all they were experiencing of fly angling was that it was too hard and not much fun. So, we put that idea on the shelf for a few years and started looking for venues that permitted all types of angling, so that they could fish with spinners. The dream came alive again. Justin can now fish for hours at a time (and for Justin, that much focus and endurance is near-miraculous), and even Alise, if she sees that the fish are biting, is happy to cast a spinner and try for a fish, though she has less perseverance than Justin does. Being the little social butterfly that she is, she prefers to spend time at the fishing dams looking for little friends more-or-less her age to run around and play with. Because there are usually so many families also out to enjoy a day fishing, she is often successful in finding a playmate, and we are thrilled that she gets something out of the experience as well, even if it isn’t the joy of landing a fish.
In a couple of years, once the kids are ready, I am sure they will begin to show their own interest in learning fly-fishing. They will have been watching Roy and I do it, and seeing our enjoyment, will surely want to try it for themselves. So, it is in their future, but for now we’ll keep the dream alive with the spinner rods, and wait for them to take up the fly rod in their own time.