{"id":150,"date":"2015-08-30T13:48:01","date_gmt":"2015-08-30T17:48:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/undercovertroutbum.com\/?p=150"},"modified":"2015-10-11T16:14:58","modified_gmt":"2015-10-11T20:14:58","slug":"the-abcs-of-creating-trout-bums","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/undercovertroutbum.com\/index.php\/2015\/08\/30\/the-abcs-of-creating-trout-bums\/","title":{"rendered":"THE ABC’s of CREATING TROUT BUMS"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Greg Grime<\/span><\/p>\n

A\u00a0great way of ensuring that your children will<\/span> respect your\u00a0choice\u00a0of becoming a trout bum\u00a0is to begin their<\/span> indoctrination\u00a0early.\u00a0 Even as\u00a0newborns, nothing is wrong with letting them see and touch your premium pelts and feathers as they marvel at your fly-tying station.\u00a0And when they see the finished products, as you feverishly\u00a0crank them out of your vise, carefully arrange them in your fly box, followed by them playing with and cleaning up the\u00a0myriad of\u00a0scraps-they will be hooked-for life.<\/span><\/span><\/code><\/p>\n

No child is able to resist the allure of a smorgasbord of fly-tying materials.\u00a0Right in front of their eyes, they watch\u00a0as something already interesting\u00a0in itself\u00a0-thread-feathers-fur- of\u00a0varying\u00a0colors, shapes, patterns,\u00a0and sizes, meld into\u00a0nothing short of a masterpiece\u00a0by the same\u00a0hands that feed and hug them when times are good\u00a0and bad.\u00a0 What you\u00a0craft is nothing short of a\u00a0van Gogh<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0to them and they look at\u00a0you like you didn't just hang the blue-moon<\/em> but you built it and hired the Man on the Moon<\/em> to keep watch.<\/span><\/span><\/code><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"B<\/a>The\u00a0moment you know they are hooked for life comes\u00a0when they are old enough to understand they may\u00a0actually catch something with what\u00a0they’ve\u00a0built\u00a0and they wake you at the same hour as Christmas morning,\u00a0not able to contain their excitement\u00a0about getting on the water to try their new fly pattern. Even if\u00a0the pattern\u00a0looks as frightening to you as\u00a0Frankenstein’s<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>post mortem\u00a0pictures\u00a0and the temperature is hovering right above freezing; it\u00a0makes no difference to them. That is when you know all hope of them not<\/em> following the path of a trout bum in some form or fashion is lost. A fine morning that is-indeed.<\/span><\/p>\n

The advantage of beginning this campaign so early in their lives you ask?\u00a0\u00a0By the time anyone suspects you of brainwashing them-it’ll be too late. But let’s face it, there are so many things for our children to get hooked on these days,\u00a0I can’t think of a better thing for them to get hooked<\/em> on-nor a better\u00a0way for them to\u00a0pass the time. Even if your agenda is discovered, you’ll win the argument in the end because everything being offered to them\u00a0is\u00a0wholesome. <\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, I know. You are thinking, how could\u00a0I possibly\u00a0articulate\u00a0a potent\u00a0argument based on fact? Something with real\u00a0teeth. No worries, I’ve got your back! Here are some scientific facts to use while\u00a0asserting\u00a0your\u00a0position to those that call you out. Fly-tying keeps the creative part of their brains running full steam ahead while the field work of pursuing fish\u00a0keeps them active and outdoors. Fly-tying and casting hone their fine motor skills while just getting to a brook trout population\u00a0will most likely require them to gain the gross motor skills of an amateur mountaineer. When they’re older, they may choose the solitude solo backcountry fishing provides\u00a0if needing some space to ponder the future or they may immerse themselves in the social aspects of the lifestyle and commune with other trout bums.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"C<\/a><\/p>\n

Just remember to be patient with them on this journey. They don’t like to fail any more than you do. Don’t drag them along in terrain that is to\u00a0difficult\u00a0or ask them to fish water that is too complex. If at all possible, <\/span>plan to\u00a0take them when the\u00a0fish are not just sipping but\u00a0smashing\u00a0dry flies with ferocious and unbridled frequency.\u00a0 Not that they won’t enjoy connecting with a fish via a nymph but let’s face it, nothing is more dramatic and worthy of a spot in long-term memory\u00a0than-seeing AND feeling a take<\/em>. Let’s also not forget, you will spend enough time just getting their line out of the surrounding trees, undergrowth and bystanders as they cast a dry fly. No need to complicate things by also adding the additional perils and frustration of\u00a0hang-ups on submerged rock and timber as they learn to effectively cast and drift a\u00a0weighted nymph. Keep it simple stupid—.<\/span><\/p>\n

If the fish are not cooperating, let the kids build their small rock temples streamside(if not destroying aquatic habitat), wade if it’s safe and catch aquatic critters.\u00a0Spend the time with them as you\u00a0see what you can find. I bet you will come up with some stoneflies, crayfish, and salamanders at the minimum. Teach them the names of what you find but this\u00a0is not the time to start making them memorize Latin<\/em> names of fish and aquatic insect\u00a0species.\u00a0If a hatch is coming off the water, try and catch whatever it is and\u00a0look through your fly-box with them for a match.\u00a0It doesn’t\u00a0really matter what they\u00a0pick but\u00a0more often than\u00a0not they will pick the right<\/em> thing when put to the task. Let’s face\u00a0it, as much as we think,\u00a0we\u00a0as trout bums are all that<\/em>, it doesn’t take\u00a0a brain surgeon to catch a caddis fly and match it to a caddis pattern.\u00a0Regardless, at this stage, it’s more important to have them memorize the\u00a0following\u00a0phrase as soon as possible, “Honey, I don’t understand what you are saying-you\u00a0can never have too much fly-fishing gear.\"<\/span><\/code><\/span><\/p>\n

\"C<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Let them be kids.\u00a0Find the kid<\/em> in you again and you can’t go wrong. Practice your poker face so that even when they come up with a pattern\u00a0that is likely to scare off every fish in\u00a0the entire watershed, they won’t see it in your eyes but\u00a0you’ll\u00a0see the\u00a0sparkle in theirs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Keep it fun and\u00a0they will never forget those times and neither will you if you are wise. Remember, you have just one chance-to do this right.<\/strong><\/em> Don’t squander the opportunity.<\/span><\/p>\n

Besides,\u00a0you’ll not only\u00a0be doing your part adding trout bums to your family lineage\u00a0but with their help,\u00a0you’ll\u00a0stand a\u00a0better than average chance of\u00a0successfully explaining to your significant other as to why you just couldn’t do without that new and EXPENSIVE<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0space-age composite, sonar integrated, anti-snagging\u00a0fly-rod even though you already own enough\u00a0fly-rods\u00a0to\u00a0collectively arm anywhere from a platoon to a regiment of trout bums for a fishing expedition.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a92015 www.undercovertroutbum.com<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Greg Grime A\u00a0great way of ensuring that your children will respect your\u00a0choice\u00a0of becoming a trout bum\u00a0is to begin their indoctrination\u00a0early.\u00a0 Even as\u00a0newborns, nothing is wrong with letting them see and touch your premium pelts and feathers as they marvel at your fly-tying station.\u00a0And when they see the finished products, as you feverishly\u00a0crank them out … Continue reading THE ABC’s of CREATING TROUT BUMS<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trout-bum-indoctrination"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/undercovertroutbum.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/undercovertroutbum.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/undercovertroutbum.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/undercovertroutbum.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/undercovertroutbum.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/undercovertroutbum.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":166,"href":"https:\/\/undercovertroutbum.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150\/revisions\/166"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/undercovertroutbum.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/undercovertroutbum.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/undercovertroutbum.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/undercovertroutbum.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}