First days with Sean

Summer has finally arrived, and the waters are starting to drop, so I had a couple chances to get out and shoot some fly fishing photos.  At this time, my son Sean is happy to be a model for me.  It's a good excuse to give his girlfriend that he needs to go out fishing.

His step-son is here visiting, so our first trip we had Andre along.  I had been wanting to go to Goose Creek and shoot from the bridge with someone fishing the riffles below.

We all got our waders and boots on, and Sean and Andre made their way down to the creek.  It was a great opportunity shoot photos of a dad showing his son the art of fly fishing.

After shooting a little, I couldn't pass up the chance to fish.  I put my camera up, grabbed my 3 wt., and joined them in the creek.  My first chance of real stream fishing this year.

Now, Goose Creek is what I guess they call a freestone stream  The creek bed is all rocks.  Big rocks.  No smooth small stones to wade on.  Fishing this stream is a balancing act while you are casting.  And wading to a new spot is really an adventure in balance for an old fart like me.

Right off I caught a small Brook trout.  These little brookies are a kick in the butt to catch.  They give you  fun little fight on a light weight rod, and are pretty fish.

That was the only one I caught.  The rest of the time I was balancing on slick rocks and trying not to fall and get my butt wet.  Didn't work.  After several near falls, I finally lost balance and went into the creek.  Dropped the rod, and watched it float down stream.  I wasn't really worried about losing it, there are enough rocks breaking the surface that, I knew it would get hung up.  I was more concerned about how I looked going down.  Would it be a slow, graceful decent into the rapids, or a flailing, comedic fall that give Sean and Andre great chuckles.  You can guess which way I went down.

Andre did catch a couple nice fish, and we decided to call it an evening an go home.

The next evening Sean and I went up another stream to a spot I had noticed last year and wanted to get an evening shot.

When we got there, the water was too high, so we stood on the bank and talked about about nothing.  Across the stream there was a camper van and a gentleman got out and started talking to us.  He was from Australia and was traveling around the West rock climbing.  Nice guy.

We then drove to different spots on the creek to look at conditions, and Sean decided he wanted to try fishing.  He got ready to fish and I got out my camera gear.  Got a few fun shots, and Sean didn't catch anything, so decided the day was done.

I enjoy this time with my son.  Fishing has given us a bonding that I really wish I had with my other two boys.  I love all of them as only a father can, but don't have the venue, like fishing,to get to spend the quality time with them as I do with Sean.  I hope one day I can find something.

Thanks for following me.

Tom