Fly Fishing and Kids Many things stick out when I look back to those days. I remember both of them caught their first fish on the same day. Their first fish all alone that is, one in which I hadn't hooked first and then allowed them to reel in. One time, my younger son had been standing on a rock behind me, in a small stream while I fished a riffle next to the far bank. Well he decided he was cold and wanted me to carry him back to shore. I tucked him under my non-fishing arm, and low and behold here came our Golden Retriever puppy unable to touch bottom and with a slightly panicked look. I slipped my hand under his color. This whole time I had left my nymph in the water, and I was heading back to shore with my son and puppy. If that wasn't chaotic enough, it was just then that a fish struck. I safely deposited my son and puppy, and then reeled in the fish. I was always kind of proud of that fish, even though it was just average in size.

Choosing The Proper Fly Fishing Leader and Tippet Leader and tippet is the final connection between the fly fisher and their fly. It is the section of line after the fly line and before the fly. It's purpose is to transfer energy from the fly line down to the fly, allow for natural presentation of the fly, and then be strong enough for the fly fisher to retrieve any fish that might strike at the naturally presented fly. Sounds simple enough, but this is fly fishing, and fly fishers have been around a long time. And as a group we seem to think about everything related to our sport a lot, and therefore probably have over complicated things a tad. The leader in fly fishing is tapered. It is thicker at the butt section, then at the tippet section. It is usually divided into three sections, the butt is tied directly to the fly line, and is the longest portion of the leader, about 60%. The mid-section is next and its purpose is to taper down to the tippet without losing a lot of strength. The final section is the tippet, it is the actual section that is tied to the fly. It is the thinnest section, it needs to be strong, yet allow for a natural drift, without alarming the fish that your offering is connected to a person that will pull back.

A Different Kind Of Catch Catching Them At 50ft below the surface of the ocean, the blood in the water draws ocean predators to our position. A nurse shark's synapses are stimulated as blood drifts into its nostrils while it swims behind us with lethal nonchalance. A silvery barracuda sails over my head, jaws working feverishly. Worse, I come face to face with a green Moray Eel known to attack human divers - its 7ft long body ribboning through the water, its mouth, lined with fangs as it stops in front of me, eyeing me with a hungry gaze. It wants the fish I have in my hand. Twenty minutes earlier we had assembled and donned our scuba gear under an electric, neon pink sky as squalls darkened the deck of the boat and made the water choppy. Wordlessly, my dive buddy falls backwards from the boat, hand clasped to regulator and mask, as I quickly follow.

Braggin' Board
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