Father's day outing

[flyI4]

Not a single day father's day outing post on here so I'll be the first to indulge. If african american's fly fished I would get it- but considering the actual demographic I'm shocked that we haven't seen a single post.
To get into the dialogue, I call up my pops on wednesday about fishing this weekend and he's being a total tough guy...." dad you wanna go fishing this sunday"..... "whatever if you wanna go we can but if not fine, weather sucks anyway bright and sunny". I find out on saturday that he went up with my sister, who through osmosis knows her shit and could have figured out Oliver's 6'' wild trout log jam enigma with her eyes closed, and felt the need to go up. Its been a fun adventure to this point. I started spin fishing and my dad told me he used to get made fun of as a "worm guy" by the flyfisherman at the antrim lodge in the 1980's. We started flyfishing when I was 10 or so and I remember the first weekend we went. We fished the north branch of the raritan, and then went to the black river where my dad hooked a 12'' brook trout and he ran over and let me fight it. I can still remember letting the fish go and my dad telling me this is what its all about- catch and release. We thought we were gnu stay in the area-but we talked to some guy at the restaurant in chester that said "Ressica falls" was on fire and he caught a bunch of fish. We drove that night to Pa and were all pumped up ready to fish the next day. We did well the next day- but in hindsight- I love my dad the most for making it such an adventure- since he could have always gotten us a room- but he made it about survival for the fun of it and in the process made me a true trout bum.
Another great memory I have is my first time fishing the delaware. We stayed in the west branch angler in April 1996 (the weekend that fish on the bar was caught). fished the home pool all weekend and did not catch a fish. At the time- there were campers that were at the bottom of the campground near the side channel and a nice guy named Al stayed there. He invited me back- showed me how to tie an ant- and the next time I came back that July I caught a fish on my own fly. It was a big deal and I showed him the fly I got it on. He shook my hand and was the classic pass it on type of sportsman that makes someone new to the sport feel good about a new development in their game as an angler.

Getting back on point in tradition and this father's day being a priority, I drove up at 5am and was a little sentimental about this fathers day. My pops and I have been fly fishing for 20 years and I'm only 26 years old. We've gone everywhere and I hate to admit he's getting older. .a funny fact logistically, We always had 2 cars. 1 that my mom would drive, and one that was our fishing car. It was always called the "bomb" by my mom and was a station wagon or a bronco most years. We used to sleep in the car from the years of 1998-2001, and I remember one time being so cold that we wore our waders at night to stay warm. In a sick way - we did it on purpose- the feeling that we were surviving and being fisherman was cool and we thought this was part of it.
Now that I've gotten older- those days of learning the sport mean more than ever. U cross that line from being a child to an adult and at some point you start to see the other side. U become thankful. You realize how good things were...and hopefully still are.
I met my dad at 9 am this sunday and gave him a big hug and we hit the river. I've noticed he's been getting a bit older the past few years and I hate to admit it- but today he was on his game. He always sees the fish well and can make a nice 50-60'' cast- so I saw a nice fish on the bank and said take a shot at him. He did- and on the 2nd cast he got him. Fooled him on a size 22 olive to make it even better. Here's to another 10 years of what has been a fishing adventure with my pops from day 1.

Beaverkill river @ twin island in 1992 (6 years old)











AND TODAY ON FATHERS DAY

 

[sunsignarcher]

Great post.


My Father's Day present from my boys (11 & 13) for the past few years has been to do a full day on the water w/dad fly fishing. When they were younger it was hard to convince them to put down the spinning rods for a full day. That all changed last year, epic Father's Day, there's a thread about it here somewhere.


Anyways this year we changed it up a bit. I bought my dad a beagle pup for Xmas and she was broke over memorial weekend opening up on here first rabbits. The boys wanted to see the dog in action so we headed up to where Stokes, Flat Brook WMA and the Water Gap all converge and looked for some bunnies to chase.


this dog has been perfect in every way and has exceeded all my expectations,as a companion for my aging parents and as field dog for some 3rd gen future bunny hunters. This is beagle no. 8 for my dad since I was born and we've had some awesome dogs, so far this one looks like she's gonna top em all.


it was hotter than I would have liked but we took long breaks between chases and managed to give 5 bunnies hell. In the evening between rabbits we checked different pools in the no kill sec on the BFB but it was pretty dead. By 7:30 we made it back to my favorite area were I've never seen another fisherman. It's open water, the walk is long and rough and the worm Dunkers would never bother. Fish were sipping all up and down the river.


i made the kids seines that morning using paint strainers that go over 5 gal buckets and some dowels. They got to work and came up with mostly spent caddis. I already had the missing link ready to go. It was tight and casting was gonna be a bit hairy so I fished one kid at a time. My oldest hooked into a little wild trout right away but he was able to spaz his way free before we could net him.


The dog was doin a good job of blowin up the hole slidin down the bank for a swim so we headed upstream to a bigger rising fish I was watchin. The fish was right off a blow down in a reeeaaaal tight spot so jr. no. 2 who was looking pretty content sprawled out on a log at the end of a long day gave me the all clear to take this one for myself. I promptly lost the caddis to the snags so I changed up to match the light cahills I was just starting to see. After two misses a nice 16" rainbow got all of that Cahill and put on a great show for two cheering boys and a confused dog.


When I climbed up the bank my son showed me a mayfly sitting in his hand he'd just caught. I placed his twin brother tied to my tippet next to it in his palm and he looked me n said "freagin awesome".

 

[lightenup]

Hate to pee on the parade. ...My dad hung himself when I was one.....never knew him so no biggie......but now Fathers day is all about me.........

 

[Oliver10]

Hilarious post. Good to see somebody got out. Some nice fish in there.

My log jam fish are bigger than 6 inches. I still can't figure them out.

 

[Trout Guy]

Hate to pee on the parade. ...My dad hung himself when I was one.....never knew him so no biggie......but now Fathers day is all about me.........

Way to bring a gloomy vibe to this thread LU.. Lol

JC, awesome post dude! It's apparent that you and your pops have become accomplished fly fishermen over the years and the best thing is that you both experienced it all as father and son. Your lucky to have that kind of bond with your father.

But someday, you'll have a son of your own and there will a time where you will have to teach him how to "survive" the cold nights by sleeping in his waders..

 

[sunsignarcher]

I had that log jam problem.

Sandy dropped four massive trees into "the" hole in the black river at Hacklebarney, ya know, the one they back the truck up to and unload a bazillion fish into.

all the tops where criss crossed at the tail out and there was no possible way to drift anything through there. The fish were everywhere.

solution: grab the kids, spinning rods, 3/0 split shot and some mealies and jig'em up.

Those kids will will never forget that day. And for me the agony on the faces of the stringer tote'n crowd that was gathering to watch my kids pitch pig after pig back was priceless.

To cap it off jr smoothly leaned out onto a dead branch and did a spectacular belly flop into the pool....haaaa, epic. After a quick dramatic rescue it was game over...for us and for the clowns that were getting in line to limit out.:give-the-finger:

 

[sunsignarcher]

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[lightenup]

I had that log jam problem.


solution: grab the kids fly rods, 3/0 split shot and some soft hackles and jig'em up.

I fixed it for ya'....

 

[Simms]

I have two dads.