Saturday, January 9, 2016

Fishing with the Future

 
     A handful of years ago I was able to meet a young aspiring fly fisherman.  He had signed up for the NH Trout Unlimited Kid's Camp and was looking to learn more about the sport.  The funny part was, that he already knew more about what "real" fly fishing was than most of us.  I remember guiding him on the first evening down below Murphy Dam.  We walked downstream a ways to an area I refer to as "The Grail."  Needless to say Jake seemed pumped up and ready to hook into some fish.  I was not really sure how he would be able to handle the current or casting in tight areas as we had really just met, but after two false casts and a double haul, I was starting to feel pretty good about our chances.  Now it has been a while since this story has taken place, but to the best of my recollection, Jake caught a beautiful 16-17 inch rainbow within his first few casts and pretty much told me that the evening was a success regardless of how the rest of the night went.  As the evening went along and the sun was getting lower in the sky, Jake kept hooking fish.  Each time taking a second to admire his catch and letting it slip away into the water unharmed for others to enjoy.  I started to realize something about Jake.  He was not in this fly fishing thing just for catching the most fish.  He was there because it was a part of who he was even as a young adult at the time.  Well I got to know Jake better and better throughout the week and eventually with his dominant performance in the casting competition, he earned the nickname "Rocket Man" from a few of us counselors.  The kid was 15 years old and could double haul a 5wt farther than anyone at the camp, minus maybe Tom Jutras. (I would have liked to have seen that competition!) After the camp most of us were in agreement that Jake would fit the best for a counselor in training role the following year.  Luckily Jake did come back and has since become a full counselor for many years.  Jake is now in his 20's and has had many adventures that I can only hope to continue to hear about from him over the years. 
     Last July, Jake came up to my camp and spent a couple of days fishing with me.  We fished hard.  The type of hard that I remember fishing with my friend Kevin when we were just truly getting into the sport.  Sunup to sundown with a five mile run in the middle of the day so that we didn't get lazy.  Jake didn't want to just fish for big fish on this trip either.  We hit so many hours of small water hooking 4-8 inch wild brookies that we lost track of our numbers.  We got back to the camp at night and told stories with my Dad of days gone by and while this was taking place I realized something.  Between my father's childhood stories and Jake's most recent ones, we were covering a span of 60 years of fishing tales.  It hit me at that moment that for the past two days I had been fishing with the future as well.
 
 
Jake with a wild brookie

Jake in his element
 

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