A few months ago I got a call from my cousin Chris; could I teach him to fly fish? Sure I could show him the ropes,but why? What I mean is , Chris is a terrific golfer , he drives a new Saab and is well groomed. I looked at it as challenge, was it possible to build a trout bum from this kind of material?

We didn't get to the river until the last part of October. The Yakima River canyon is gorgeous that time of year; the water is low and clear. The water temperature is in low 50's and the trout are moving to the flies with serious intent. When I talked to Chris on the phone and as we rode out to the river he seemed to be preoccupied with learning the casting stroke. The stroke I found out is what golf seems to base on. It's your form while whacking the ball that is really important. I don't golf.

I explained to him that the rod and line manufactures whole existence is making gear that will cast well. Its true, all modern fly rods cast great, even the cheap ones. That's there purpose. The difference in rods is that some fish much better than others, we are here to fish not cast.

After climbing into our waders I put the gear together explaining the leader system I use for NYMPHING. Yes I started him NYMPHING. It may seem cruel but Chris didn't know the difference. For you non-trout bums I'll explain; nymph fishing is fishing subsurface, essentially bouncing your flies off or near the bottom of the riverbed. That is where the trout live most of the time. We started with a #6 stonefly nymph, a pheasant tail dropper and a splitshot with a huge strike indicator on nine feet of leader and a floating line. Now try casting that mess. Not exactly " A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT" kind of image. It's taken me a long time to enjoy this facet of fly-fishing. Its not for everyone, I know some pretty fine anglers that consider NYMPHING a trip to the dark side of our sport. You should also know that nymphing the deep runs does produce the big trout. The down side is that you'll lose a lot of flies and leaders to the big rocks. It's important to realize that you will be neither casting nor fishing much of the time; you will be rebuilding your gear. Relax, think of it as character building.

Chris is turning out to be a natural. He's stopped thinking about his casting. My sense is he's not thinking at all. His motivation is pure trout bum, he's just glad to be there. On the other hand in a few short trips he has hooked at least three huge trout, wait till spring and he finds out about dry fly fishing.

February fishing on the Yakima River should start to pick up a bit, although we've had great winter midge fishing, its pretty much a single dish entrée. You might want to devote some time to tying your new spring menu. Here are few suggestions; skawala stoneflies, march brown's, pale morning duns, dries,nymphs,and emergers.