The Plan.

Before summer of last year, my roommate's boyfriend was hired in Delaware and moved into the flat. Naturally, he had many questions about all the fly fishing gear, pictures, magazines, and paintings hanging and strewn throughout the place. However, school dismissed and I disappeared for most of the summer. I returned to even more questions and now he wanted to try it out. However, are schedules didn't provide an opportunity. Most weekends, I was fishing somewhere out of state while he was either working or tied to his girlfriend's ball and chain. I slowly devised a plan, a takeover of sorts, to free him from his chains and get him out on the water to experience something new.

The process began slowly. I didn't want to scare my roommate. She knows full well the disease that I suffer from. I'm an addict and the last thing she wants is her boyfriend disappearing for days at a time on his only days off. She even fired me a few warning salvos whenever I mentioned upcoming trips to the river or the local fly shop. So I decided to start somewhere. At first, I strategically placed beginners fly fishing books throughout the apartment. Soon, reading commenced which brought more questions. I then gave him a fly rod, reel, and a leader and had him out on the grass for a few casting sessions. For Christmas, I gave him a box of flies, leaders, tippet, nippers, and forceps and the promise of finally taking him out to go fishing. He was amped. Little did he know but he was standing on the edge, about to fall off a cliff into fly fishing oblivion.

First Time Fly Fishing

Weather: Nor'easter Snow Storm

Temperature: 25 Degrees (w/o wind chill)

A Demonstrated Cast and Mend Produced This Yellow Rainbow.

My Bad.

A Saturday eventually came and we had nothing to do, so we went fishing despite the freezing temperatures, anchor ice, and snow storm. I figured if he was really serious about fly fishing, this would be a pretty good test. He purchased a new license off the internet while I prepped the gear. Soon we were stream side observing various trout from a bridge. I pointed out the tell tale signs of fish, likely holding spots, and where we were going to fish from. He didn't see anything and then I realized that his Oakleys were not polarized. With borrowed glasses he was spotting fish like an eagle. We headed to the water along a shelf of anchor ice. I instructed him on where to cast and after a few mishaps he was rolling. He kept missing the lane, until finally after a few choice words, his lone caddis landed in the sweet spot. I told him to set and despite his delayed reaction he hooked up with a nice sixteen inch rainbow. After a brief struggle the fish came unbuttoned from a simple rookie mistake. Tension. We moved slightly and I took his rod to demonstrate how to cast and mend to extend the drift downstream. While mending on my only cast, the indicator dipped and I robbed him of another chance. Soon though, he hooked into and landed his very first trout on the fly. A pretty little brown.

Some Open Water.

Coming Down Sideways.

Nothing Like Your First Fish on the Fly.

Soon the snow started to come down hard, the wind picked up, and the temperature dropped creating ice on the fly line, leader, and fly. Despite this, we walked a good half mile upstream and attempted to sight fish to a pod of stationary fish. As the sun began to set, I was cold from not fishing and I told Derek it was time to go. I started to walk downstream and realized that I was not being followed. I turned to find Derek still fishing, intent on fooling one last fish. It was then that I realized that I created a monster. He was hooked. I would probably be facing the wrath of girlfriend in the coming weeks as he progresses deeper and deeper into the infinite realm of fly fishing. My bad.

Never Doubt The Green Caddis.

Heading Off the Water.

A New Fly Fishermen is Born.