This past weekend, Sunday, October 30th, S.A.R.E.P. Youth Fly Fishing Program had their first outing in search of steelhead. The group included the young students, their parents, a few community members and a group of dedicated mentors. The group had spent the last few weeks tying flies in preparation for this trip.

 

After the group was outfitted with waders, boots, rods and reels, individual casting lessons  began on the lawn.

A few minutes later, the students were on the water using their new skills.

Jimbo, one of our mentors for the past decade, moved on to work with another young student as sun started to move closer to the horizon.

On another beat of the stream, Mike, another mentor, worked with a couple new students as the looked at steelhead moving upstream.

He looked on as he gave casting instructions from the bank.

Sue, one of our newest mentors and mother of one of the students, jumped at the opportunity to help with the casting instructions.

She got a lot of practice untangling lines from trees and rods as her daughter looked on with amusement.

I  gave a couple lessons on tying an improved clinch knot as we attached on one of their newly tied flies.

Along the way we saw one of the hundreds of willow trees we have planted over the past 14 years. It was nice to see them do well and adhered tightly to the banks.

Overall,  we had a wonderful fall day on our local stream as we cast to beautiful steelhead as they moved through the pools. I know many will be haunted by the long shadows and dream about these chrome beauties as I have been for many years.

Next Monday we return to the Fredonia Central Middle School to our weekly fly tying sessions where we will tie up some streamers in preparation for our next trip.

We are ready for our next trip!