Went to a wild brook today but with intent to finally get my daughter to convert some fish. We have fished tenkara together a few times. She has hooked fish and landed fish I hooked, but she still had not hooked and landed her own. These wild brookies can be tough, they are small and experts in survival and getting away.
I didnt fish, just was a guide today. She must have hooked a dozen but dropped them all. Then it started to hail on us, followed by a hard rain and a drop in temps. Once the storm passed we broke out the backbacking stove and cooked lunch.
We had our second wind and we continued our quest and had a few more dropped fish. Then on our way out we hit our first pool and she finally landed her first wild brook trout. Pretty awesome.
All fish today responded to the end of pool swing which i tend to use a lot on inactive trout. Seems to drive them nuts, especially if i swing into a skate. My daughter quickly mastered it. Pretty cool to watch the fish dart from the bottom to take their shot and dash back deep to safety.
On our hike out my daughter noticed something i had never seen. I looked them up. It is a fungi that are called earthstars.
Nice report. I took my son fly fishing when he was about 8. Sadly he has never been back - that was 44 years ago. Still there is a plus. I can no longer drive and he takes me fishing and goes for a walk whilst I fish.
My daughter only has a mild interest in angling. She started asking me to take her when she was about 4 years old. I think she enjoys the general outdoor activity and experience over the specific task of fishing. She does enjoy the challenge of the presentation and catching. She also likes to admire her catch, but i think she is most interested in spending time in nature and seeing/experiencing things. The interval she asks to go fishing is pretty low. We probably fish together 3-4 times per season, but I treasure evety outing. We do a lot of hiking that seems to be more up her alley. Especially turning over logs and looking at what lives under them.
This was not under a log but on one of our hikes. Red eft…red spotted newt
