First Trip To Dry Run With Eli

[Justin Spencer]

My 7 year old had a half day of school on Wednesday so I made good on my promise to take him to Dry Run to catch some fish. After stopping at Blue Ribbon Fly Shop for an out of state license and a few sow bugs we were off to the hatchery. I had not seen the creek since the improvements had been made, what a work of art! I can't imagine a more well designed and fishable strech of water in the world, they have done a magnificent job of designing a fantastic trout stream. We rigged Eli's 4 wt. Ross Journey rod with some 5X tippet and a pink San Juan worm and quickly he was hooked up with a small 8" bow. A few casts later and a 13" rainbow was brought to the net. I soon realized the frustration of trying to get a 7 year old to hang on to a fish long enough to get a good picture, but we managed a few during the trip. I also had my 6 wt. rigged with a #18 copperheaded sow bug and fish were readily caught on it as well. While unhooking a 15" brown it began shooting eggs into the net so a pre-larval fish pattern was promptly tied on. The fish were more than receptive to this pattern and in an hour or so of fishing at least a dozen fish were brought to hand. I witnessed several 18" + fish take the fly but they were either never hooked or the fly was pulled from their mouths (it's hard to coach a youngster to let the fish run by letting go of the reel). What a thrill to see Eli cast, mend and hook several trout without any assistance. If the fish were a little better at hooking themselves Eli would have caught 20-30 fish. Probably only 5 other anglers on the stream so room was not an issue, can't wait to get back maybe over Christmas break. Taking an adult trip to the tailwaters on Sunday, will be my first official trip down there to fish.

[Brian Wise]

Awesome! Bet he didn't like it a bit.

Brian

[Danoinark]

Good on you!!!!

[jjtroutbum]

Couple more years and my Niece and Nephew will be about right for this trip. I can't wait.

[mhall02]

a pre-larval fish pattern

That's a pretty interesing description of the ole egg fly. I can't wait to take my kiddo there, he just turned 5 so I'm going to give it a little longer.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Great! That's a great use of a man made ditch.

[Chris Gates]

Good Work!