Father's Dream on the Dream Stream

My daughter Chloe on the Dream Stream.

A fathers dream, or at least my dream, is that my daughters will remember some things that I tried to teach them when they were younger. In the case of fly fishing, it would be that they would remember how to catch a trout. 

But it is more than being  able to catch a trout. Since my daughters were only 5 years old they were taught  to look into the water to spot trout. From early on they could really see the fish. And then they were taught how to cast and drift a fly across and down to a specific fish. Sight fishing: the most rewarding kind of fly fishing in my opinion.

My daughters are grown up now. One is finished with her degree from CU and my youngest is half way done. The years pass quickly without the time for many fishing trips and life gets complicated.

But today, Chloe and Sophia and I went back to the dream stream. We had fished it often 15 years ago when it truly was the "dream  stream" and there were dozens and dozens of trout in each run and riffle.  Today, we struggled to find even a few fish, but the fish that were there, my daughters could see.  They had not forgotten. They could still make the cast and a beautiful "fly first" drag free, presentation to the fish. Fish were hooked and landed.

More importantly they truly admired each fish and handled it carefully before releasing it back into the river. They would never injure or kill a fish. They remembered.

My daughters met an older gentleman who walked down from up river. He spoke kindly to my daughters.  He did not know my daughters had caught any fish.  He said, " I have been here for hours and I have not seen a fish all morning. Not a single bite."  And then my daughters did something that I did NOT teach them. They politely conversed with this gentleman but never once mentioned the nice trout they caught. They did not say a word about their catch or their accomplishment. They knew that to brag would have been wrong.

They had learned humility and respect but I am not sure where they learned it from. A fathers dream on the dream stream,  had come true, even as this section of river has lost its former glory.