Nine months ago, my husband, Bob and I decided we wanted to plan a trip where we could bring all four of our sons together. It had many years since the boys had spent any quality time together. We talked and talked about where we could go and what we could do. Then it hit us, we could introduce them to fly fishing with a trip to the San Juan River, which is located outside Farmington, New Mexico. I called my sons, Tim who is 31 years old and lives in Hilo, Hawaii and Steven who is 29 and is in Mesa, Arizona. Bob called his sons, Ryan who is 25 and lives in LaJolla, California and Garrett, 20 in Flagstaff, Arizona. The boys thought it would be great and especially liked that they would get to spend time with each other. So the trip planning got started.
First, we had to set a date that everyone could work with. After talking back and
forth, June 5th through the 9th was decided on. Tim would fly in from Hawaii and his brother, Steven would pick him up at the airport in Phoenix. Ryan would drive over from LaJolla and stay with Steven. The three boys would drive to our home in Alpine, AZ., on June 5th. Garrett would drive over from Flagstaff on June 4th. After the three boys arrived at our home, we headed for the San Juan River on June 5th in two trucks. Their fishing adventure would start on June 6th and last through the 8th. It was a 51/2 hour drive to the hotel. Once we arrived, we checked in and got the boys their fishing licenses.
Prior to us leaving on June 5th, I called our friend and guide, Peggy who works for Abe’s Guide Service on the San Juan River. We set up two all-day float trips and
wading trips for the boys. Bob and I decided that we would pair the boys up, but not brother-with-brother. So, on the day that Steven and Garrett waded the river with Peggy, Tim and Ryan floated the river with Don. The next day the boys switched so everyone had a wading and a float trip. The third day, Bob and I were taking the boys on the river to fish with us. We also had the boys sharing one big room together. We figured that was a good way for them to visit with each other. Our room was across the parking lot which I thought that was pretty safe distance. At the end of each day we would get together for dinner to hear their stories. There was a bit of brotherly-competition going on between the two teams, as they called it. Listening to them talk and joke with each other took me back many years when they were younger.
The boys had such a blast. Every night we heard about their fish, the rainbows, the browns, and ones that got away; which boys liked floating the river, and which ones liked 
wading the river. Bob and I were so pleased that they loved the fishing and everything that went with fly-fishing. None of our sons had ever fly-fished on a tail water fishery so everything they were learning was new. I have to admit I was curious to see what they had learned for the 3rd time of fishing with us. We had rented them waders, boots, and fly rods from Abe’s. I was excited on the third morning and we all headed for the river and to our favorite fishing spots. Bob an
d I had talked about how we were going to handle fishing with all four boys, since they did not have net or flies. I also wanted to be close to take lots of pictures. When they hooked a fish they would yell out, "Fish on!" and either Bob or I, whoever was closer, would go and help. I was very pleased to see they had learned a lot from the guides and landed more than 50% of their fish. My fishing was not great that day. I landed one fish all day long and spent the rest of my time tying on flies, untangling lines, and netting their fish, but I had a ball. At the end of the three days of fishing, the boys had caught between 22 and 27 fish a piece. Believe me... they kept count on their fish numbers.
It was a wonderful time for us all. It was so nice to have them all together again, but I was glad they were not teenagers anymore. We had lots of pictures to remember the trip by. I made each boy a scrapbook of our trip, which has 95 pictures in it.
Maybe we will get a new fly fisherman out of one of them. I would like that. It is a trip that I will never forget and it was sure hard to see them leave.
