krayfish
Active member
- Joined
- May 26, 2011
- Messages
- 2,466
I recently started my nephew fly fishing and he's always wanting to go. I promised him a 2 weeks ago that I'd take him the weekend of the Seven Mtns Jam. I intended to take him to Penns or Spring for some sulphur fishing. He contacted me mid week and wanted to know if we were still going. I confirmed that we would and we could go ANYWHERE. He's already fished Clarks, Spring, Big Spring, Stony and the Tulpehocken. I forgot I was dealing with a 14 year old and shouldn't have said ANYWHERE.
"I want to go for steelhead" was the first thing he said. I explained that it's too late for that kind of fishing. "OK, take me to that other place in NY where you go". I expected to have great conditions but I warned him that he won't like it.
My buddy Josh lent us his pontoon and a life vest which we loaded on the trailer and set out around 10:45 pm on Friday night for Hancock. We pulled in and headed straight to bed around 2:30 am. At 6:30 am, we were awakened by the guy in the next room. It sounded like he was throwing a medicine ball against the wall. Since we were up, off to the Circle E for breakfast. Came back got our gear on, set up a shuttle and headed to the river. This is where the mean uncle comes into play. I took that poor child on a marathon float.....Started in the Beaverkill and floated to Cadosia. LMAO. I figured he plays 4 sports so this wouldn't be an issue for him. I also brought some straps because expected to tow him a good portion of the day so he could fish while we slowly moved along.
Shortly after starting, he told me that rowing made his arms hurt and wanted to know how much longer we had to go. I explained that he's made it 1 mile and has 12 more to go. I told him that he was about to have a very bad day.
His casting is limited so I gave him a spinning rod with a blue fox on it and set up his fly rod with a double nymph rig. I figured that he may be able to pick up a shad or smallmouth on the spinning rod as we floated around and the nymph rig was for runs. I will say that we had perfect conditions just like the JAM. No sun, no wind and hatches in batches. I would row out of a pool and wait for the little guy to reach me. I'd hold his boat in position, cast his indi rig out and set him free. Riffle after riffle we did this and nothing. He was so consumed with casting the rod around that he'd pick it up, false cast and tangle the rig just after I'd set his boat free to float the riffles. From the amount of garbage in the boat, he spent a good part of the day eating. LOL.
I would watch him cast the spinning rod and then took it from him to demonstrate what I wanted him to do. He tossed a spinner for 2 hours w/o a fish. I made a 1 cast demo and hooked a 12-13" smallie. I felt like I stole his fish. Later he was nymphing and I took his rod to demonstrate and hooked a smallish bow.
He did manage to get hooked up 3 times that day on his fly rod. The first one involved him yelling "I've got one" and then stepping out the the pontoon into 8' of water. After he swam back to the boat and lost the fish, we reviewed the safety rules for the 5th time. We covered 6-7 miles before his next hook up. That one jumped, threw the hook and then nymph rig flew back and tangled on his PFD. We had one last chance as we got to our last riffle and daylight was fading. He went down with me behind him. I hooked up right away. He rowed over to see the fish. I anchored, pushed his boat back up river 150 yds so he could get another shot. Finally, he had one on. I had hoped for a bow and he got one that really gave him a workout. The smile in his pic says it all.
Half way through the float, his mother called and he said that he wouldn't do this again. As we loaded up to head home, his mother called and he said that it was pretty cool and wants to come up again. I guess it's like golf.....all you need is that one good shot to keep you coming back.
"I want to go for steelhead" was the first thing he said. I explained that it's too late for that kind of fishing. "OK, take me to that other place in NY where you go". I expected to have great conditions but I warned him that he won't like it.
My buddy Josh lent us his pontoon and a life vest which we loaded on the trailer and set out around 10:45 pm on Friday night for Hancock. We pulled in and headed straight to bed around 2:30 am. At 6:30 am, we were awakened by the guy in the next room. It sounded like he was throwing a medicine ball against the wall. Since we were up, off to the Circle E for breakfast. Came back got our gear on, set up a shuttle and headed to the river. This is where the mean uncle comes into play. I took that poor child on a marathon float.....Started in the Beaverkill and floated to Cadosia. LMAO. I figured he plays 4 sports so this wouldn't be an issue for him. I also brought some straps because expected to tow him a good portion of the day so he could fish while we slowly moved along.
Shortly after starting, he told me that rowing made his arms hurt and wanted to know how much longer we had to go. I explained that he's made it 1 mile and has 12 more to go. I told him that he was about to have a very bad day.
His casting is limited so I gave him a spinning rod with a blue fox on it and set up his fly rod with a double nymph rig. I figured that he may be able to pick up a shad or smallmouth on the spinning rod as we floated around and the nymph rig was for runs. I will say that we had perfect conditions just like the JAM. No sun, no wind and hatches in batches. I would row out of a pool and wait for the little guy to reach me. I'd hold his boat in position, cast his indi rig out and set him free. Riffle after riffle we did this and nothing. He was so consumed with casting the rod around that he'd pick it up, false cast and tangle the rig just after I'd set his boat free to float the riffles. From the amount of garbage in the boat, he spent a good part of the day eating. LOL.
I would watch him cast the spinning rod and then took it from him to demonstrate what I wanted him to do. He tossed a spinner for 2 hours w/o a fish. I made a 1 cast demo and hooked a 12-13" smallie. I felt like I stole his fish. Later he was nymphing and I took his rod to demonstrate and hooked a smallish bow.
He did manage to get hooked up 3 times that day on his fly rod. The first one involved him yelling "I've got one" and then stepping out the the pontoon into 8' of water. After he swam back to the boat and lost the fish, we reviewed the safety rules for the 5th time. We covered 6-7 miles before his next hook up. That one jumped, threw the hook and then nymph rig flew back and tangled on his PFD. We had one last chance as we got to our last riffle and daylight was fading. He went down with me behind him. I hooked up right away. He rowed over to see the fish. I anchored, pushed his boat back up river 150 yds so he could get another shot. Finally, he had one on. I had hoped for a bow and he got one that really gave him a workout. The smile in his pic says it all.
Half way through the float, his mother called and he said that he wouldn't do this again. As we loaded up to head home, his mother called and he said that it was pretty cool and wants to come up again. I guess it's like golf.....all you need is that one good shot to keep you coming back.
