Fly Fishing 101

While Casey was in Montana he got private fly fishing lessons from my dad, Scott. Since both of them are left-handed it made it real easy for them to understand each other. It didn't take Casey long to figure out the rythm of 10 and 2. Also, it didn't take him long to catch my neck instead of a fish. Because of the stormy weather we didn't catch any fish our first night out however; the second night on the river both Casey and I caught 2 fish each. I love the thrill of reeling in a fish!

Casey practicing his cast before we got in the boat

Me fishing out of the back of the boat. I have to admit that it was difficult for me to fish with another person in the boat. I'm used to going alone with my dad. Casey and I had to use our finest communication skills otherwise our lines got tangled. It's harder than it seems!

Casey waiting for a fish to jump into the boat

Casey with his very first catch on the Kootenai River. While he was reeling in his fish he started smacking his upper arm. My dad and I couldn't figure out what he was doing and kept telling him to focus on the fish. Once he got the fish close enough to the boat he showed us that a yellow jacket had bitten him while he was reeling the fish in.

Ouch! Yellow jacket bites never feel good.

Casey giving his fish a goodbye kiss!

Me unhooking my first fish

I'm pretty sure my fish was bigger than Casey's, but of coarse we didn't measure because we didn't want him to feel bad.

As you can tell it is pretty dark in these next couple of photos. I believe it was around 10:15 pm and we were getting close to the dock. I had already reeled in my line and was just enjoying the river, but Casey had yet reeled his line in. He finally decided to reel it in and as he was literally dragging his fly across the water a fish bit his line. So lucky! Still to this day he swears that he was still fishing. I don't believe it and most likely you wouldn't believe it either if you saw what he was doing with his line. Now he can say that he is a "true" fisherman because he has embellished stories to share.

Casey unhooking his own fish.

Casey with the final fish of the night. Great job, Sugar!