Boy, I have to say that I’ve had a pretty good run of good weather on my days off so far this year. And, each time out I’ve caught fish. Since my kids were off from school today due to it being MLK Day, I coaxed my son into getting out in the afternoon. First I had to battle it out with him in a nerf gun war in our basement this morning until it warmed up some…it’s tough to be a daddy some times ! By  2pm, I was ready to scramble to the stream with Jacob in tow. For some reason he didn’t want to go at first but I knew once he was there, the curiosity of a 7 year old would take over and he’d be fine.

I was happy that his waders still fit and that he was willing to flog the water with a fly rod today rather than his spinning rods.

Like I said, I was counting on the curiosity of a boy to come through once we were actually on the water.

…And… bugs, because little boys love bugs ! By habit I take a sample of every stream I fish even if I’ve been on it before. Jacob loves bugs !I mistakenly one time forgot to clarify that we do not collect bees, wasps, or hornets ! One summer he found out quickly as to why we don’t bother with them !

This stream does not have a huge or heavy population of mayfly species but it is heavy with caddis. Today, we observed several species of caddis larva as well as midge larva and a few immature mayflies.

Since I knew we were on a stretch of stream that holds a bunch of brookies, I figured that a classic wet fly like the Silver Doctor would be a good fly for him to swing and hold downstream. I was a little worried that the size of the stream and casting room would be a problem but, I also thought that since the water was cold  that if  he was able to get to cast downstream and have the patience to hold it there long enough,  a brookie would eventually lose all control and hit the fly- brookies just love silver and gold tinseled bodied flies.

But…no dice. They were not willing participants for him in that area. I’m guessing that we were too close and he was casting too often. Oh well, I know that they are still there and there is always another day.

So, we moved down stream to deeper pocketwater sections and switched to a small Wood Special Variant. This one has a red body. I believe that the original pattern called for an orange body. Also, I don’t have jungle cock eyes on it either because I ran out of them.

Boom…the one and only brookie for this session. Fantastic ! I just wanted him to get one and remain positive and enthusiastic about fishing. After 2 hours, we headed out to meet mommy and his sister for dinner at one of his favorite restaurants- Friendly’s.

So, for this kid, today, it was win…win…win…win all around. He had a day off from school, a  nerf war with daddy, fishing with daddy, and ice cream !

And for me, it was a win…win…win…win, too. He was a happy boy all day, I got out on the stream with my son even though I didn’t fish per se,  no rods were broken in the process, and a fish was caught !