A Good Teaching Technique!

A few weeks ago I posted about how my oldest son Mason caught his first fish on a fly rod.  You can read that post here.  However, I left out an important detail from that story.

A number of years ago, I was fishing in the Holland Trout Derby at Bennett Spring.  I was lucky enough to catch a tagged fish and I was able to redeem that tag for a 5 weight fly rod.  I was pretty lucky to catch that fish and equally lucky to get a fly rod out of the deal.  With all of that good mojo already working on the rod, I decided to pass that good karma along to my oldest son and to let this rod be his first fly rod.  I have held on to this rod for a number of years and it has been waiting for him to show an interest in fly fishing.  After he caught his first fish on a fly rod, I gave "Lucky" (that's what we named the rod) to him later that night.  (Have no fear, my youngest son also has a rod ready for him but that's a story for another time). 

Last night we took Lucky out to Guy B. Park Conservation Area to fish for some bluegill.  Since he is still new to fly fishing and I didn't want to take a John Deere to the eye, I decided that a traditional cast wasn't going to work in a small boat.  The only alternative that I could formulate was to teach him to roll cast.  What I learned was that teaching a kid to roll cast out of a boat is pretty darn easy.  He caught his first fish with Lucky and a few more bluegill too.

Yes, roll casting is a pretty easy but I have witnessed people struggle to roll cast in different situations.  If someone is up to their chest in water, roll casting can be a little tricky.  If someone is learning to roll cast on moving water, that changes angles and adds difficulty.  I have also seen people struggle to roll cast when standing on a bank because it can be difficult to find that anchor point.  Brush on the bank can also add another variable that can make any cast, not just roll casting, more difficult.  But roll casting out of a boat eliminates a lot of these problems.

The caster is close to the water which makes it easy to achieve an anchor point.  There's no brush to contend with but boat clutter can take its place unless you remove cumbersome items.  There is no current or angle changes to contend with either.  Wind can play a factor unless you find a secluded cove full of bluegill.  Finally, I was able to have him keep out one length of line the entire time.  All I had to do was change the position of the boat.  Instead of him letting out more line and changing his muscle memory that he had built up, I simply moved the boat closer to or further from the spot he wanted to fish.  This helped with his confidence and casting immensely!  It also kept us out of grass, moss, and trees. 

I wanted to pass this along in case you were trying to teach someone to fly fish.  If you can replicate this situation, then you might avoid some frustration on your part AND the angler's.  It might also lead to more fishing successes which is what we all want!  I can see this working as well for kids and adults so feel free to put this thought in your mental tackle box and use it someday.  I hope it helps.