First Cast

My near 6 year old daughter wants to go fishing, all the time. She asks me a lot. Last summer she caught her first sunny on sweet corn, but last weekend we spent an hour on the Hammonasset River and she made her first casts with a fly rod. I set her on a rock, made a few demonstration casts, then guided her briefly through a roll cast. She angled the rod back, achieved a nice, full loop, and the line flew out beautifully as she punched my little 7' 4 weight forward. I have to write this down somewhere because I want to remind myself how wonderful this was to me. She was a picture of concentration and focus. She made it look easy. She'd done something that was important to me. Then she turned around after three perfect roll casts and said: "Thanks Daddy, I've had enough now." Priceless beginnings. -- JA