I gifted a great friend's 16 yo son. If dad would donate $400 to a program run
by a bunch of kids in my area (they go to Haiti every summer and build houses,
toilets, rec buildings, etc), I would take him to the Rapid for three days of
guided fishing. He has never fly fished before.

We arrived on Monday, bright and early, and headed for the dam for some casting
instructions. He had his fair share of troubles, but surprisingly I had the
patience to stick with it. After lunch, we headed back to the river and tried
to actually catch a fish. He got into a very nice salmon (18-20 inches) that
tail walked across the pool. Steven, with his mouth agape, didn't know what to
do. After much coaching ("Keep your rod tip up, UP."), and just when I thought
the beautiful fish had given up, one more giant leap for salmonkind and he was
off. It took several seconds for Steve's mouth to close and for him to speak.
We finished off the day with a small brookie and three small salmon. Overall a
pretty good day for him and me. I was happy. We were both happy.

On Tuesday, he couldn't do a thing right. Every time I would take his rod to
show him what he should do and to illustrate what he was doing wrong, I caught
a fish. He landed about 8 fish, but never hooked up himself.

After lunch, he went swimming and this tired old man took a much deserved nap.

The next morning, armed with more confidence, and box lunches from the kitchen,
we took the camp pick-up down river to the Lower Dam. A giant aerial blanket
of alder flies hovered next to every little tree by the river. Millions of
flies. The female's had green egg sacks and were bobbing on the water.
However, there was not one rise to either the hatch or when they returned to
deposit their eggs. I tried several patterns, but the big brookies that I knew
were lurking in the deepest pools weren't interested. Nor would they take a
nymph. Very strange. We decided to wade upstream to just below the Spawning
Beds where we saw some rising fish. We managed a small salmon on a Goddard
Caddis.

Back to the dam to fish the water immediately upstream from the first and
second gates. I had rigged up my Winston 5 weight and made a couple of casts.
Steve was into another very nice salmon, but again, had trouble landing it. I
took a very nice 18-20 brookie on the Goddard.

Steve was getting the hang of it. His casting was abysmal (sorta like mine),
but he was getting the fly up-stream and mending his line properly. He took
several more small fish before we had to head back to camp.

I think the bug has bitten him, because that night I overheard his telephone
conversation: "Dad, I've had more fun than our trips to Bermuda."
Sooooo......... here's hoping he takes up the art of the angle. He could do
worse...... or is that worser........

BTW, we had the river to ourselves. Not another person within sight. From July
1 to August 31, the spawning beds and Lower Dam downriver to Long Pool are
closed to all fishing.

Alaska in August is next.....

Dave

http://hometown.aol.com/davplac/myhomepage/index.html