I have grown up fishing the Little Red River and have used flies to fish but have never used a "fly rod" to do this. So I ventured into this timeless sport over the weekend. I grabbed my grandfather's fly rod and went to work. Needless to say, it is a technique that must be practiced over and over again. My arms received a workout like never before.
Even though my arms were tired, there was a peace like no other place can give...standing in the middle of God's beautiful creation, the sound of the river flowing, ducks and geese sounding off, the swish of the fly line as it whips through the air. It was just me and God standing there.
As I pondered many things in life, I had a nostalgic moment. This was my grandfather's fly rod. Four generations have used it and caught fish on it (Pa, Dad, Me, and Taylor). Wow! I felt honored to have the opportunity to be part of something so special. I do miss my grandfather, but I know he would have been proud of me and given me a pat on the head or hand.
My goal for the day was to learn the technique of fly fishing and to catch a trout on my 1st day using the rod. I had a successful day. I have the basic techniques down...of course they do need some fine tuning. And I caught a nice little brown trout. It was awesome to feel it hit the fly, and then the fight was on!
Taylor was there to help me land it in the net, but the fish didn't really want to go there. It kept swimming upstream away from him. After pulling it in close enough, the crazy thing swam around Taylor's leg like a dog does a tree when on a leash. Quite a funny moment, and I'm sure the others were laughing at us trying to get this fish from around his leg in the middle of the river. At least he and I had a good laugh.
Great times and great memories!
