Every time you hang out, you show your friends fish pictures from your last outing. And every time your friends beg you to take them fishing. Eventually the time comes where you take that friend, or if you are brave enough, a significant other fly fishing for the first time.
You will either be hated or loved. Teaching someone how to fish requires patience. Beginner anglers require time and patience, meaning you will have to put the rod down to teach your friend.
Teaching a friend can go one of two ways. You will either help a friend make new memories, or make them frustrated and confused by not helping them, and it all comes down to you. So here are five pieces of advice to make sure their first outing goes well.
1) Put your rod away and don’t touch it for the rest of the day.
If your friend wanted to watch you catch fish they would just look at your instagram account. It sounds simple, but it is easy to say “no when you cast do this.” And then take the rod for the next 10 to 20 minutes. If you have to demonstrate something, do it once and then give the rod back.
2) Teach them how to cast first.
The day before, go to a grass field and teach them the basics. Even if it is just for 30 minutes, you will spend a lot less time pulling flies out of someone the next day. And the odds of catching a fish go up drastically. While you are at it, this is a great time to go over how to retrieve a fly and fight a fish. Pretend you are the fish and follow in the fly line, and then grab it. Pull on the fly line and teach your friend how to properly fight a fish.
3) Pretend you are a guide
Even if you are not, pretend you are. Try and spot fish for your friend, tie on their flies and land their fish. Do everything to ensure that they have a great day on the water. If they love it, you will have a new fishing partner in a few weeks.
4) Choose the right fly and de-barb your hooks
Choosing the right fly does not always mean the one that is the most likely to catch fish. Instead, it means the one that is easiest to cast. Even the best casters have a hard time casting flies with a lot of material, so chose the fly that is easiest to cast. While you are at it, de-barb your hooks. Even if you lose fish, novice casters are likely to put a fly in themselves and you. And removing a hook with a barb is less enjoyable than losing a fish.
5) Teach them etiquette
Fly fishing is ripe with unwritten rules. From fishing handling to how to behave on a boat, there are many things that you can only learn from a friend. So be that friend and use it as a teaching moment. If you teach them to pick up trash at your local fishery, you will be forever rewarded by the day you took to teach a friend how to fish.
After you have caught fish, watching a friend land their first fish will be far more rewarding than catching another one for yourself. So take the time and teach a friend to be another steward of your local watershed.
