First Time on the Water

I was asked by Dale at the Orvis Flagship store if I would be willing to provide a Fly Fishing 301 course for new fly anglers and I jumped at the chance! Nothing better for folks just getting into fly fishing than our fantastic smallmouth bass run! So we set it up and a couple took me up on it this past weekend. Allan and Linda are brand new to fly fishing and this was the first time that they would be on the water as a couple. I didn't know that until they got to our location and I could not have been happier!

I started off by showing them some important knots to know but I could tell that they were excited to head to the water so we got down there quickly. I helped them dial in their casts really well. By the end of the day they were both casting weighted flies really well. 

I showed them how to see bass in the water. Learning how to spot and fish to a visible fish is a great skill to learn. Linda was on it! She hooked the first fish and while she was a bit nervous about it (she told me that she had never caught a fish before ever!) she did great! A nice healthy smallmouth bass. After her second fish Linda was bragging about how big they are. I still get a good laugh when I think about what she said after releasing her second fish "You tell your friends that a woman caught you!"

Allan followed suit shortly afterwards and caught another great bass. By the end of the outing each of them had cast to and landed two smallies! They are great folks that have just started down the fly fishing road! If this experience is any indication they are going to have a whole lot of fun with it!