When Your First Fly Rod Fish is 10 Pounds....

You're standards might be a bit high....

There is absolutely nothing better than getting to share our passion with another member of our family.  My nephew Trent from Seattle joined us for his first time fishing with a fly rod.

You tend to take for granted the little things that make you successful.  Stripping line in when a fish comes toward you.  Not reeling when a fish is running.  Keeping constant tension, so on and so forth.  The size of the fish on Sunday can humble anyone, let alone a rookie.  One of the first fish Trent hooked trucked him so fast he barely knew what happened.  The line popped and the and piled back in his face.  All we could do was laugh.

Not to worry, success came fast and often.  With 2 fisherman instructing (see "yelling nervously and barking orders) Trent honed his skills, culminating with a massive triploid on a size 14 chronomid and on a five weight rod.

The fish at Rufus Woods stacked the deck in our favor yesterday. They're freaks.  They're everywhere.  They're BIG.  Everyone was catching fish but it didnt matter.  All that mattered was we have a new member of the fly fishing tribe.

This picture was my favorite of the trip.  It made me realize we had done our job.