Getting Schooled By Your Elders...

So last week I got to sneak out with a new friend of mine Vinnie Urgo - a local photographer that wants to get into shooting some fishing shots who asked if I would go out and do a little fishing and let him do a little photographing, and I of course had to have my arm twisted to go fishing and get photographed all day...

Needless to say it was a great day. I mean, you couldn't really find a better setting for me than a river on a nice calm cool wintery day. I've never claimed to be much of a fisherman or a photographer for that matter so I made sure to bring my old man along to embarrass me and catch all of the fish (the latter part he does way better nowadays - it's hard to embarrass me with a wife and a kid anymore).

The day started out about how I expected it would - with my dad catching the first fish. I mean, he has been fishing in Montana since like 1970 or something, he's got a few years on me. But I figured I would get the skunk off on the next bend no problem - that's when I went through the first good run and missed two fish and landed zero... Where or where was Vinnie? He was following my dad as he proceeded to pound the next hole and pull a half dozen out.

Ok, so let me stop a second and say, I'm not a competitive person when I'm fishing - I leave that for work and the golf course. But when I can't keep a hook in a fish, and I'm watching the guy who taught me most of what I know about fishing pull fish after fish after fish out of the hole above me, I get a little frustrated... It's more wounded pride than anything!

So here's a valuable lesson for anyone who thinks that because they spend a lot of time on the water that they are better than their predecessors, go fishing with them sometime and you'll see what I mean by the teacher will always have a few tricks up their sleeve. My dad's happened to be that the fish were taking the nymphs ever so softly and he just happens to have a little better technique after 40 some odd years of fishing for trout.

Only after he left to go referee some high school basketball was I able to start catching some more fish - I attribute this to the fact that he left, I mean after all he's The Trout Whisperer (I'll have to dig up the article and share that with you later). Really though the trick was shortening up the distance from my indicator to my flies - it was too much and I couldn't detect the strikes. I shortened it up and bang, there were the fish.

The day ended with me stoked to have some sweet photos to remember a fun day of fishing with my dad and remember that he'll always be the teacher and I'll always be the pupil as long as he and I fish together.