Montana detour fuels sons’ fly fishing interest

Disappointments in the past sometimes cause a chain reaction towards greater things that can only be realized in reflection.

In 2019, we had a fuel pump give out in our Expedition near Laurel, Montana. There was literally a rainbow in the sky as we resigned to the fact that our trip to Glacier National Park was going to be canceled.

That night was a pivotal point in our trip. The new fuel pump had to be ordered and installed. We changed our travel plans drastically. Instead of moving on towards Glacier, we would stay where we were and make the most of the situation.

The pinnacle of our adjusted travel plans was traversing the infamous Beartooth Highway beginning in Red Lodge, Montana. Numerous switchbacks led us through lush forests and around hairpin turns as we ascended the mountains.

I leaned away from drop offs and even covered my eyes at several points as we drove towards an alpine tundra nearing an elevation of 10,000 feet. Even though it was the end of June, the snow had to be plowed to open the highway.

Fly fishers

It was while driving through Custer National Forest that we came upon several anglers fly fishing in a nearby stream. With snow capped mountains in the background and wildflowers dotting the banks of the river, the two anglers fluidly rocked their poles back and forth before dropping lures into the pristine waters.

We were mesmerized by both the scenery and the sport of fly fishing. We lingered a few more minutes before moving on and being bombarded with questions about fly fishing. I was altogether unfamiliar with the rich and lengthy history of fly fishing.

Long history

The oldest reference is found in Roman literature from the second century. Other accounts tie fly fishing to several traditional fishing methods in Japan, where over 400 years ago, the first fishing flies were crafted.

Anglers in Great Britain experimented with different types of line changing the preferred material from horse hair to silk. The modern fly wheel was invented by Charles Orvis in 1874.

When January rolled around, my youngest son had some money he was gifted at Christmas burning a hole in his pocket. He knew what he wanted, his own fly fishing pole. The difficult part about purchasing a fly fishing pole in January was having a long wait until fishing season.

Homemade flies

He and his brother thought they could save money by making their own flies. I thought this sounded far too ambitious, but they proved me wrong.

Their grandpa dusted off a vice that had not been touched in  30 years. He provided other tools along with feathers, fur, hair and some synthetic materials.

I wasn’t quite as helpful; I borrowed the book Fly Fishing for Dummies from our local library. They seemed insulted by the title but spent some time looking at the charts and pictures. In the end, their flies looked impressively realistic.

Mirror Lake in Columbiana is many miles from the Beartooth Highway, but on the first sunny day in March with a brand new fly fishing pole, it was a slice of heaven.

Casting

Learning to cast in fly fishing can be a short physics lesson. The rod is an extension of the anglers arm creating a lever. The tip of the rod is loaded with stored energy later transmitted to the line. The weight of the line carries the lure through the air.

Apparently my son’s sporadic movement left room for improvement. A complete stranger was so excited to see someone fly fishing that he left his truck running in the street and stopped to help my son master his casting.

He explained that his grandpa taught him how to fly fish. He shared a few tips and bolstered excitement for the sport. Less than a minute after he drove away, a small bass was the very first fish caught by my novice angler.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife releases rainbow trout in March through May in an effort to introduce children to fishing and encourage families to fish together. The stocking dates for local lakes, ponds and reservoirs are listed at ohiodnr.gov/wps/portal/gov/odnr/buy-and-apply/hunting-fishing-boating/fishing-resources/ trout-stockings.

If you see someone wildly wielding a fly fishing pole in need of guidance, that would be my son. He’s practicing for another trip out West, where this time he will get to be an angler in a mountain stream near the foothills of the Beartooth Mountains.