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Spring break with Kim!
- By Peter Smith
- Published 04/11/2004
- Trip Reports
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I can’t imagine there could be anything more fulfilling for a dad than having one of his children take an interest in an activity he enjoys doing. More special indeed is this opportunity when that child wants to learn it and participate along side him. In my case the activity is fly fishing and the child is my youngest daughter who is 12. For two years I’ve gently introduced casting and short, fun trips to keep the interest up and the pressure down. Well, it seems to have paid off.
This year during her spring break, my daughter Kim and I spent 3 days in Eastern Washington fly fishing 3 of the desert lakes. I had the truck packed up the night before so when I woke her up at 5:00AM Saturday morning she just had to take her pillows out and we were off.
She slept part of the way and was really ready for my standard road trip breakfast of apple fritters and milk from the Super One in Ellensburg. We then headed off for our first destination, Lake Lenore, and it’s big strong Lahontan Cutthroat. There were a dozen guys lined up at the north end – no kids. Kim didn’t seem to be intimidated by the company at all. I rigged her up with a black and a red chironomid that she had tied up at home. She had a box of basic red and black chironomids that I’d shown her how to tie. Within the first 10 minutes she lifted her rod into her first Lahontan. All of the guys on either side were impressed that she hooked a fish, to say nothing of how well she played it. She insisted that she net it herself and we got a picture before she released it. Needless to say, I was bursting with pride.
We fished until noon and she caught 2 more including one that went about 23”! I ended up with only one to hand. My excuse is that I spent most of my time watching her indicator and missed many of my own strikes. It goes without saying that I was totally glad to do it. I was thrilled with her success.
From here we drove south to Quail Lake where we would camp. This was a hike-in lake that we fished from float tubes. I got 2 fish here and Kim had a good grab that she missed. She fished well and had a great time. I think the highlight for Kim was catching a turtle in her net. She thought that was really cool and we took several pictures before sending him on his way.
Later the next day we stopped at Lenore again on the way to camp at Sun Lakes State Park so that we could fish Dry Falls Lake in the morning. I got 3 fish this time and she had a good one on for a long time before it popped loose. There was a guy fishing on Kim’s other side (she later referred to him as the “old geezer”) who was trying to cast out further. The “old geezer” was performing the “If I put more muscle into it and really heave it, it will go out there” kind of cast. However, his rod tip was hitting the water in front of him and his line was piling up in front - not going out at all. Kim’s’ casts were going out half again as far with much less effort. Her loops were so tight that a couple times she crashed her line into the rod tip and we had to undo a tangle. She came over to me and whispered, “His rod is hitting the water in front. Isn’t that why his line isn’t going out?” That was a real revelation because it meant she understood the cast and she recognized what she was seeing.
We cooked up a couple nice steaks that night and Kim was tickled watching all the quail running around the campground laughing at “the really funny looking birds!”
The next morning we realized we didn’t actually have anything for breakfast so we had apples and carrots and milk. Boy, did I get the “Look” for that oversight. We did the bumpy ride into Dry Falls and there were only 3 other rigs there. A small breeze riffled the lake so I said we’d kick our tubes over to the bay on the right to get into smother water. I had Kim pull a damsel on an intermediate line on the way over just to have something in the water. Part way there a fish rose just behind us. I told her it would see the damsel and grab it as it went by - fingers crossed. I’ll be darned if 5 seconds later she didn’t hook up. This was a foot long rainbow! In the calm bay we fished chironomids while anchored side by side. Kim really had the hot rod and out fished me 5 to 2. She caught a couple browns and finished off with 2 larger rainbows that were 17” and 18”. The last one really ripped off line and she squealed each time the fish took off again. A quick lesson learned as she realized how fast one has to reel to catch up with a rainbow running straight at you. We did have a double one time, which she thought was great. I couldn’t have been more proud.
Finally the apple and carrot breakfast wore off and she wanted to go in. We drove to camp to take down the tent and then hit the Safeway in Ephrata for some deli food. We ate that much anticipated meal in the truck in the parking lot while listening to a Spanish music station. Kim is taking Spanish in school and was impressed with herself that she could actually understand a few words.
It was a peaceful, easy trip back over the mountains – her listening to music from her CD player and me reliving a wonderful 3 days with my daughter, all the time hoping that she will want to do it again. I do believe she will.
 |
This year during her spring break, my daughter Kim and I spent 3 days in Eastern Washington fly fishing 3 of the desert lakes. I had the truck packed up the night before so when I woke her up at 5:00AM Saturday morning she just had to take her pillows out and we were off.
She slept part of the way and was really ready for my standard road trip breakfast of apple fritters and milk from the Super One in Ellensburg. We then headed off for our first destination, Lake Lenore, and it’s big strong Lahontan Cutthroat. There were a dozen guys lined up at the north end – no kids. Kim didn’t seem to be intimidated by the company at all. I rigged her up with a black and a red chironomid that she had tied up at home. She had a box of basic red and black chironomids that I’d shown her how to tie. Within the first 10 minutes she lifted her rod into her first Lahontan. All of the guys on either side were impressed that she hooked a fish, to say nothing of how well she played it. She insisted that she net it herself and we got a picture before she released it. Needless to say, I was bursting with pride.
 |
We fished until noon and she caught 2 more including one that went about 23”! I ended up with only one to hand. My excuse is that I spent most of my time watching her indicator and missed many of my own strikes. It goes without saying that I was totally glad to do it. I was thrilled with her success.
 |
From here we drove south to Quail Lake where we would camp. This was a hike-in lake that we fished from float tubes. I got 2 fish here and Kim had a good grab that she missed. She fished well and had a great time. I think the highlight for Kim was catching a turtle in her net. She thought that was really cool and we took several pictures before sending him on his way.
 |
Later the next day we stopped at Lenore again on the way to camp at Sun Lakes State Park so that we could fish Dry Falls Lake in the morning. I got 3 fish this time and she had a good one on for a long time before it popped loose. There was a guy fishing on Kim’s other side (she later referred to him as the “old geezer”) who was trying to cast out further. The “old geezer” was performing the “If I put more muscle into it and really heave it, it will go out there” kind of cast. However, his rod tip was hitting the water in front of him and his line was piling up in front - not going out at all. Kim’s’ casts were going out half again as far with much less effort. Her loops were so tight that a couple times she crashed her line into the rod tip and we had to undo a tangle. She came over to me and whispered, “His rod is hitting the water in front. Isn’t that why his line isn’t going out?” That was a real revelation because it meant she understood the cast and she recognized what she was seeing.
We cooked up a couple nice steaks that night and Kim was tickled watching all the quail running around the campground laughing at “the really funny looking birds!”
The next morning we realized we didn’t actually have anything for breakfast so we had apples and carrots and milk. Boy, did I get the “Look” for that oversight. We did the bumpy ride into Dry Falls and there were only 3 other rigs there. A small breeze riffled the lake so I said we’d kick our tubes over to the bay on the right to get into smother water. I had Kim pull a damsel on an intermediate line on the way over just to have something in the water. Part way there a fish rose just behind us. I told her it would see the damsel and grab it as it went by - fingers crossed. I’ll be darned if 5 seconds later she didn’t hook up. This was a foot long rainbow! In the calm bay we fished chironomids while anchored side by side. Kim really had the hot rod and out fished me 5 to 2. She caught a couple browns and finished off with 2 larger rainbows that were 17” and 18”. The last one really ripped off line and she squealed each time the fish took off again. A quick lesson learned as she realized how fast one has to reel to catch up with a rainbow running straight at you. We did have a double one time, which she thought was great. I couldn’t have been more proud.
 |
Finally the apple and carrot breakfast wore off and she wanted to go in. We drove to camp to take down the tent and then hit the Safeway in Ephrata for some deli food. We ate that much anticipated meal in the truck in the parking lot while listening to a Spanish music station. Kim is taking Spanish in school and was impressed with herself that she could actually understand a few words.
It was a peaceful, easy trip back over the mountains – her listening to music from her CD player and me reliving a wonderful 3 days with my daughter, all the time hoping that she will want to do it again. I do believe she will.
