First Fish on the Fly

Today marked a milestone, the first of many to come, for my wife Amber. She landed her first fish on the fly. The size and weight of that fish was totally inconsequential. We have been working for a while on her cast and today we continued with a lesson at a small lake near my parent's home using a sweet little TFO Pro series 4wt rod and Ross Fly Start reel. After a lesson on false casting, feeding, and shooting, we decided to spend a few minutes fishing. It was pretty chilly and a little windy, so I was just proud of Amber for being out there. I decided to give her some space and we started slowly working bead chain eye nymph patterns. After a couple of casts, Amber hooked up with a bream but forgot to keep a tight line so the fish tossed the fly. A few casts later, a more determined Amber was screaming with glee and I looked over to see she had a bent rod and was working a fish to shore. At first I thought nothing of it. I'd caught thousands of fish. But this time was different. It was her first fish on a fly and she had done it all on her own. She was so excited! I had to walked over and congratulate her. We snapped a picture and released the fish. At her suggestion, we ended the trip right then - on a high note. I was as proud as a husband could be, and for Amber, all the effort of learning to cast a fly rod was finally starting to make sense. Good call and congratulations dear!