Last Friday my wife and I went fly fishing on the Yakima for the first time. By that I mean it was the first time that I took her fishing and the first time she's ever fished, period. She grew up in Yakima and was a regular participant in the rubber hatch as a teenager. That, however, is the extent of her relationship with that river. She has never given fly fishing much of a thought, and in fact when she drives to Yakima she takes I-82 instead of driving the canyon. She gets annoyed at me whenever I drive because we always take the canyon route. At least now she has a new perspective.
We floated Bristol to Thorp with Derek Young- this trip was my anniversary gift to her (happy 21st, dear). I gave her a 45 minute lawn casting lesson a couple weeks ago just so she'd have a basic feel for how to cast, but I knew early on that I was not going to try to teach her beyond that, or there wouldn't be a 22nd. Enter Derek. He worked very patiently with her all day, and she responded enthusiastically to his input, and was open-minded. Things would have been different had I been the one giving her instruction. And my instruction would have been lacking in patience, so there is no doubt that we made the right decision to involve a neutral third party.
Weather was great- low 80's, and even the w#nd didn't cause much of a problem. She caught a 2.5" troutlet on her first cast, and had enough hookups throughout the day to stay focused and enthusiastic. She landed 6 or so cutts during the course of our float, mostly in the 8-9" range. The big fish just weren't playing nicely. I caught one 10" hog but that didn't impress the Mrs. too much. In the end I think I landed 5 fish.
Expected to throw hopper patterns all day, but we saw only one real hopper all day. Golden stone dries got it done however. I was hoping we could be on the water for the evening caddis hatch but we pulled out before it got dark which was fine with Mrs. Itchy because she really doesn't like bugs, and a swarm of caddis crawling on her face and arms may have resulted in less than a favorable account of the day.
She was all smiles all day- having fun floating a river under blue skies (it was cloudy and cool back home), drinking a beer, and even catching a few fish. She finally understood why I like it, but admitted that she is not going to take up winter steelheading any time soon, and cautioned me against going out and buying her a bunch of gear prematurely. I promised not to get crazy, but I can see a pair of waders under the tree for her this year, however. It was fun to watch her having fun and learning to cast better, present flies, mend and of course strip.
I think I may be one step closer to getting a drift boat.
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We floated Bristol to Thorp with Derek Young- this trip was my anniversary gift to her (happy 21st, dear). I gave her a 45 minute lawn casting lesson a couple weeks ago just so she'd have a basic feel for how to cast, but I knew early on that I was not going to try to teach her beyond that, or there wouldn't be a 22nd. Enter Derek. He worked very patiently with her all day, and she responded enthusiastically to his input, and was open-minded. Things would have been different had I been the one giving her instruction. And my instruction would have been lacking in patience, so there is no doubt that we made the right decision to involve a neutral third party.
Weather was great- low 80's, and even the w#nd didn't cause much of a problem. She caught a 2.5" troutlet on her first cast, and had enough hookups throughout the day to stay focused and enthusiastic. She landed 6 or so cutts during the course of our float, mostly in the 8-9" range. The big fish just weren't playing nicely. I caught one 10" hog but that didn't impress the Mrs. too much. In the end I think I landed 5 fish.
Expected to throw hopper patterns all day, but we saw only one real hopper all day. Golden stone dries got it done however. I was hoping we could be on the water for the evening caddis hatch but we pulled out before it got dark which was fine with Mrs. Itchy because she really doesn't like bugs, and a swarm of caddis crawling on her face and arms may have resulted in less than a favorable account of the day.
She was all smiles all day- having fun floating a river under blue skies (it was cloudy and cool back home), drinking a beer, and even catching a few fish. She finally understood why I like it, but admitted that she is not going to take up winter steelheading any time soon, and cautioned me against going out and buying her a bunch of gear prematurely. I promised not to get crazy, but I can see a pair of waders under the tree for her this year, however. It was fun to watch her having fun and learning to cast better, present flies, mend and of course strip.
I think I may be one step closer to getting a drift boat.
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