First time fly fishing

Last weekend was a big day.  It was Taiga's first fly fishing experience!  Well, it wouldn't be called as a big adventure by any means, but it was still a big deal for me and my 5 year old son, Taiga.  So I just wanted to write this down for myself before I forget.

Somehow, fly fishing is a big deal to me; I'm probably romanticizing it for some reason.  It could be the influence from Norman Maclean's novel, A river Runs Through It, one of the first novels which I managed to read completely in English.  When the ultra-sound image showed the small bump between his legs, I didn't think much about a boy or a girl (we were happy with either).  But after a couple days, it started to sink into me, and a lot of thoughts started to flow through my mind.  Can he handle going through the somewhat cruel and hierarchical world of boyhood?  I was one of the smallest kids in the class.  I didn't get bullied much but I had to be "smart" to survive.  Does he get into fights?  If so, are they for good causes?  What if he becomes a bully?  After knowing him for 5 years, I now consider that these worries were silly.  I see many resemblance (both good and bad), and I'd like to believe that he would try his best.  On the happier side, I also started to imagine lots of exciting things which I might share with him.  I wondered if he would be interested in mechanical things like me.  Maybe we can build plastic models, RC, or work on restoration of my old 1973 MGB-GT when he becomes a teenager.  Or we might start some new hobby together like star gazing.  Back to the topic of fly fishing, one of the thought which excited me a lot was that one day, I might show him how to fly fish.   Maybe, we'll hit a small creek in a mountain.  At the end of the day, we'll sip hot cocoa (and whiskey) by a small camp-fire, and we'll talk about the fishing of the day.  Well, this sounds really cheezy but I'm blaming it on a bit of whisky after a good day of fishing.  While I'm well aware that it isn't a good parenting to project myself onto the son, I can still have some small dreams and he might happen to enjoy what I enjoy by chance!  Anyway, this is the reason that it was a big day for me to take Taiga out for fly fishing.  To be honest, the place we went is a slough next to a gas station, far from a beautiful mountain streams.  But it didn't matter for Taiga.

When I grew up in Japan, our house was close to a small river, which was my play ground.  My father was a good fisherman, and he frequently took me fishing (mostly surf casting). I still have lots of great memories of fishing with my father.  I am pretty sure that the fishing experiences were one of the reasons I appreciate the nature and became a biologist.  As I mentioned in a post from last year, I'm re-living my youth with my son, but now I'm the one who is playing the role of my father.  Actually, fly fishing is not something I grew up with even though I grew up with fishing.  I started to learn fly fishing when I was a graduate student at Indiana University.  Since then, it is my favorite method of fishing.

In the last year, Taiga became a fishing nut.  For example, we went to ice fishing almost every week in the past winter if the temperature is about -10F.  In some weeks, we went fishing for both Saturday and Sunday.  I should write about this sometime before I forget.  I learned about his determination and patience through ice fishing experiences.  Even if there is no bite, he will keep trying and enjoy the moment.  Also he is developing independence, skills to deal with unexpectedness, and abilities to "screw around"/experiment with different methods.  As another example, one of his favorite TV shows is YouTube channel by BlacktipH, an extreme fishing show by a Florida fisherman, who catches humongous fish like tunas, sailfish, Goliath groupers, and sharks.  In the cold winter days when we can't play outside, he wanted to tie flies.  We made lots and lots of wooly buggers, and he also started to tie a relatively large dry flies like caddis flies.  So many of his most exciting things were related to fishing.

In the spring, I was starting to wonder if I should get him a fly fishing rod or wait for another year.  He is a relatively small boy for his age (just like how I was), so I wasn't sure if he can handle the long fly fishing rod.  We went to a local fishing shop, and let him try the shortest rod.  It was a relatively inexpensive and heavy rod, so it looked like that he wasn't quite ready.  But around March, I saw that Cabela was having a sale of a nice outfit with a light-weight, short rod.  Also, it mentioned the life-time warranty (although I'm not sure if they really honor it), so I bit the bullet, and got it for Taiga.

Taiga practiced casting once on snow when we received the rod, but then he didn't touch it for 1-2 months.  Then in the morning when we were going to fish, he decided to practice one more time.  So I wasn't sure that he would catch anything.  To keep his expectation low, I had to repeat that it might be too early to catch a fish, and we should think it as a practice.  When we get to the fishing spot, Taiga saw a person catching fish for every cast.  Now he was excited, and ready to fish.  But Taiga's cast couldn't reach more than 7-9 feet from the shore.  He was happily practicing the cast for a while, though.  He wasn't getting any bite, and eventually, he wanted me to cast.  We made a deal that I would occasionally cast it for him.  We were getting a couple bites, but Taiga couldn't hook them.  The first hour or so was slow like this.  But we were enjoying the beautiful, warm morning.  Then I managed to hook a fish, and handed it to Taiga.  He was so excited, but he lost it after a brief fight.  This happened another time, and tears came out quietly due to his frustration.  So we had a lunch break with PBJ to refresh ourselves.

His casting became better.  This is relatively early stage, so he was hooking the ground frequently.  But fortunately he didn't hook a human.

After lunch, his spirit was up again, and kept trying.  Eventually, I hooked one, and gave the rod to him.  This one was an unexpectedly big fish.  Especially with #3 rod, the fish was fighting hard.  After the couple loss in the morning, I could see seriousness in Taiga's eyes; he carefully negotiated by letting the line go out when the fish was pulling hard. This was his first big fish which he had to let the line go.  It was like BlacktipH (as we talked later)!  I was feeling a bit of adrenalin rush, and at the same time, I was fighting hard against my temptation to help him.  Indeed, I forgot to start to record the video, so  I could record only the tail end of his fight....  After a seemingly long fight (it was probably a couple minutes, but I felt like 10 minutes or more), he managed to land it.  Here is the video of his first fight with fly fishing rod.


This is the photo of his first fly-fishing catch.  I would say that it is a beautiful Arctic Grayling, which is bigger than the typical fish from here.  Indeed it was the largest fish of the day, and fairly close to the biggest grayling I've ever caught.  He wanted to keep it, but he understood that it is s catch-and-release area, and he was excited to see the big fish swimming away.


Now, after his first catch, his tension went up one knotch higher.  In the afternoon, quite a few people started to show up, and the area was very crowded.  A family bravely came to fish right next to us.  I was a little worried that Taiga might hook the neighbor, but there was only one scary moment. A girl, who was probably a little younger than Taiga, was interested in playing with Taiga, and she came right behind Taiga when he was casting.  Later, when I was fixing the tangled line, they were playing together.  But as soon as I fixed the line, he was more interested in fishing than playing with his new friend.  Actually, I saw a mother of the neighbor family was hooked, but it wasn't by Taiga.


Since we weren't catching any more, Taiga wanted to try another location.  After we changed the location, we (actually Taiga) found a spot where he can catch lots of fish without casting too much.  In this spot, there were lots of bite, but hooking was still tough for Taiga.  He kept trying and trying. Taiga gradually became better at both casting and hooking.  Then eventually, he could cast, catch, and release the fish all by himself.

He caught this fish all by himself!

Fish or Coin?

Taiga was having a blast, and he wanted to keep fishing, but we had to head back home for dinner.  Overall, Taiga caught about 6 arctic graylings.  I was expecting 0 fish, so it was much better than I expected.  When we got back to home, he had to tell the story to the mom.  Judging from the smile he had during his story telling, I think he might be hooked.

I think this location is kid friendly fishing spot, so I highly recommend for families with young kids.  It is north west of North Pole, and it is about 20-30 minutes drive from Fairbanks.  From Fairbanks, you can take Richardson highway toward North Pole, and get onto Badger road (not from the North Pole end).  Then make a left onto Markey Road right after you see Badger Gas Station on your left.  You'll immediately cross a bridge going over the Badger Slough. Then you can make a left turn immediately after the bridge onto Persinger Drive, and you'll see a parking area around the intersection. You can fish either upstream or downstream of the bridge.  Downstream seems to be easier with smaller kids since there is wide open area.

Note well that this area is an important spawning ground for arctic graylings.  So PLEASE read the regulation.  For grayling fishing in 2017, you have to use single hook lures, or if you are using the trebble hook lures, the gap between point and shank has to be larger than 1⁄2 inch.  With bait fishing, the gap has to be larger than 3/4 inch.  It is catch-and-release only.  So please use the barbless hook, or squash the barb with pliers.  Fly fishing is most productive, and we were using a small dry fly like Adams.  I've heard that troopers do patrol the areas and some people were fined.