thanks beth and alix.
only one drink alix? ken wouldn't share again, huh?
great suggestion, gw. my dad gave me his dad's old bamboo rod and reel kit with several of the flies he tied when they lived in ireland 70 or 80 years ago. he still has a small kit of rooster tails, and threads and such. i'm afraid to use anything though. i wouldn't want to lose a single fly or possibly break the dry, brittle rod. too much sentimental value.
i was looking into beginner fly fishing set ups with my boy when we went to dick's. they have decent kits for around $60, but i think i'll wait 'cause the little guy is still just learning to hook a worm and cast with a zebco push button reel. you've gotta get out of the way cause the hook and sinker don't always go towards the water, lol.
My first fishing outfit was a bamboo rod with a Zebco 202, pushbutton, close face reel. I caught a good number of brookies back in the day. My Dad would fish one side of the stream while I fished the other. We'd start a couple miles upstream of where the stream emptied into Lake Superior and fish all the way to the beach. On one of our favorite streams, if you knew where to look, there was a six inch pipe that came up out of the ground, in the forest, with ice cold artesian water gushing from it continuously. We'd be hot and sweaty from fishing on a hot summer morning with too many clothes on (if you didn't wear the clothing, the mosquitoes and other biting bugs of the U.P. caused great suffering
) and thirsty. We'd lay our creels down and take turns burying our faces in that water and drinking deeply. That was a treat. I also learned to pick a wild edible plant called by my Grandmother - cowslips, and wintergreen leaves and berries on those fishing trips of my early youth. To this day, a 10 inch brookie, or rainbow, from the streams feeding the big lake, with that yellow/orange meat is my all time favorite fish, and one of my all time favorite foods, freshly cleaned, heads removed, dredged in flour, and pan fried in a couple inches of hot oil, salted as soon as its done with that crispy skin. Oh baby. You don't need any other sides when your dining on a mess of brookies, just a glass of cold milk. Treasured memories, good times. That's what you will be building with your boy. My kids are all grown now. But they learned how to fish a stream at my side. I'm just a little envious.
Bonus, streamside is where you introduce him to canned sardines, liverwurst sandwiches on toast with lettuce and Miracle whip, good cheddar, at room temperature, and other such delicacies. If you can find some raspberries or blue berries while your out there, oh my! Take a cast iron pan with you, and if allowed, make a small cooking fire after cleaning your fresh catch of the day. Dip in a bit of cornmeal or flour, salt, and enjoy a meal together. You will create a bond that nothing in the world can ever break. Dads and kids, boys or girls, it's a natural law.
Warning: Be prepared to spend as much time taking care of snags as you spend fishing.
But it's well worth the time, and replacing the lost hooks. Oh, and there will be a hook or two in the skin. It's inevitable. But, ice cream cones on the way home solves all of the world's problems. At least it did for me and my Dad. I want three scoops of maple nut please, at 5 cents a scoop (yes, I'm that old
).
Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North
!
