First On The Fly

Jack Casement - 2024 Kilpatrick Fly Fishers Best Story

Jack Casement - Author and Angler (Featured Left)

Fly fishing has always been a unique way to fish compared to the others. When I first saw people fly fishing, it was beautiful in its own way. To see someone moving a rod back and forth and the line swaying in the air, it was hard to look away. Once my dad got into fly fishing, he put me and Paulina in the Kilpatrick Flyfishers Club. I was quite excited to learn how to use a fly rod. When I grabbed a fly rod for the first time, I thought I was going to nail it and start catching trout, but I couldn't have been more wrong! I couldn't cast for the life of me, so Dennis, one of the instructors, came over to me and started to help.  I remember the one word he kept on saying to me, “flick.” He guided me and I got my first half-decent cast. I kept on practicing, and I kept on getting better. I was somewhat consistently getting casts that could catch a fish, and for me that was a huge accomplishment.

Christmas 2017, I was 7 years old, and I open this big-looking gift. To my surprise it's a TFO fly fishing rod! I was so happy, and I couldn't wait till spring and summer. When it finally reached spring, I couldn't wait to catch my first trout. When I finally got to go with my fly rod the first time, I was ready. After a long drive we made it to a beautiful trout creek. We started fishing and my casts were not perfect, but I tried and tried. I went to a few creeks but that year I never hooked a trout.

 Summer/spring of 2019, it was a new year, and I was a bit better at fly fishing. We always make a few trips for trout and last year I had struck out and I needed a trout. After the long drive, we had made it to the trout creek. We started casting like normal and moving along the creek. In the creek was a beaver dam. Dams create structure in the creek and could be a perfect home for a trout. The dam had current and there is fast rapids behind it and I cast right into the rapids. I was 9 and I thought it would be incredible to see a trout jump in the rapids like a salmon and bite my hook. While my hook was sitting in the rapids unnatural as can be, a brown trout emerged out of the rapids and bit my hook! I set the hook and the fight is on! I kept the tension and all of a sudden the rod stopped bending and the tension was gone. The brown trout had spit out the hook. I was crushed.

May 2020, after two years of trying to catch my first fish on the fly rod, I was beyond ready. I was ready before for the other two years, but I was more ready, and I was determined to catch a trout on my fly rod. Waking up at 4 am was tedious but it didn't matter to me, I was only focused on the trout. Once we had made it to the creek we started to go down and cast at any form of structure, losing a few hooks here and there, of course. We had made it to a bend in the creek where there was a tree over the bend providing shade from the hot sun. The bend was deep too, and it seemed like this was a beautiful place for a trout to be. I moved my rod back and forth and I cast right before the bend. My wooly bugger sank as the current pushed it to the bend. My hook was going right through the bend when all of a sudden, I felt a hit! I set the rod and I'm on a brown trout! Paulina started recording and my dad got the net ready while he got in the shallow part of the creek. The brown trout was fighting and out of nowhere he jumped into the tree. Good thing he didn’t catch on a branch. While I was still fighting and in awe of the jump, the trout jumped all the way out of the water doing a flip and landing back in with a big splash! The trout had not given up yet, as it dodged my dad and went down the creek peeling my line. The trout had gone into shallow fast rapids, and it was up to me to keep him on the hook and away from every obstacle. I slowly brought him in, and my dad went in the rapids with him. My dad took a swoop with the net, but the trout hit the edge and was inches from tangling in my dad’s legs. My dad moved out the way, took another swoop and this time he got the fish in the net. A huge weight was lifted off my shoulders, I had done it! My dad brought it over and we took measurements and photos. The gorgeous brown trout measured 20.5 inches. It also had beautiful colours. I then grabbed the fish and I put it back in the creek. It swam off and I had completed a goal that haunted me for two years.