Two years ago my husband, Bob and I took our 4 sons, Tim, Steven, Ryan and Garrett on a fly fishing trip. Fly fishing is something that the boys had never really done and we wanted to share this experience with them. We all had a wonderful time, but Tim seemed to really catch on. As the time pasted Tim and I talked more and more about fly fishing.
I sent him information and pictures on which knots he needed to learn for tying tippet and his flies. We talked out different rods, reels, and fly fishing equipment.
Tim is an air-traffic controller in Hilo, Hawaii. He wanted to come out and go back to the San Juan River, outside Farmington, New Mexico for another fly fishing trip. We thought that was great. This trip was planned for many months and during that time Tim bought his own rod, an Orvis T3 5wt; a reel- Ross Evolution 2; a pair of wading shoes, Korkers, a fly fishing vest and some tools. Tim flew into Phoenix took the shuttle to ShowLow, AZ. where we picked him up and back to our home in Alpine, AZ.
The San Juan River is 5 hours from our home and we had planned for 4 days of fishing.
We only had one morning of cold temps and high winds. The rest of the time was great. We packed our lunch and headed for the river each morning. The river was running at 360 cfs (cubic feet per second) so it was easy to wade. We had our favorite spots and fished them very day. I tie flies so I filled our boxes with lots of very small flies that we used on the river. Tim started out slow getting back into the hang of things but it did not take long and he was catching lots of beautiful rainbows and a few browns.
We were sorry to see the four days end. I had a wonderful time with my son, we laughed, caught fish together, and we helped net each other’s big ones. It was a great time that I will never forget.
My son is 33 years old and it does not matter how old your children are… having fun together is the best. I am glad that we have this common interest, fly fishing and I can foresee us spending lots of time fishing on rivers together.
