I am FAR from a fly fisherman/woman. The last time I went fishing with my husband (Jason) was before we had kids. Well let me reword that – the last time I actually cast a fly rod while we were on a fishing adventure was 15 years ago. I have gone several times and watched him and the kids fish, but I don’t fish – I take the pictures 🙂

Jason recently created in my words “the cutest little fly I’ve ever seen” that is so small anyone can cast it – even me. We recently went to our local reservoir to do some product testing and filming and we took along one of the minpins for me to try. This was the true test. If I could cast it that would be proof that anyone could do it. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the larger flies/streamers that my husband makes but they are WAY TOO INTIMIDATING for this girl to cast.

So I started casting and I couldn’t even tell I had anything on my line. Jason showed me how to strip the line in and slowly pull it out of the water as it got close. As I did this I CAUGHT A FISH!!!!  I wasn’t even trying, I was just practicing my cast. It was just a little guy but for me it was super exciting that I had actually caught a fish. One more thing you should know about me is I hate to touch fish – their slimy skin creeps me out and especially when they start to move I just can’t handle it. But for this occasion I tried to get a picture holding my little fish -yes, I got my hand wet first before I touched it 🙂 I tried to look relaxed and calm for the picture, but as you can see I wasn’t so relaxed. Once the fish started moving it was all over – I screamed as the fish jumped out of my hand and we both couldn’t stop laughing. I of course had Jason take the hook out of it’s mouth – definitely not doing that! So I thought maybe that was a fluke, so I started practicing again doing the same thing and I CAUGHT ANOTHER FISH!!!  This time I opted not to touch the fish 🙂

I learned a couple things from this spontaneous fishing trip – fishing can be fun if you know what you’re doing or have someone who knows what they’re doing and can teach you. And secondly, it’s great for creating memories. Jason and I laughed so hard as he was trying to take my picture holding the fish.

I’m a big fan of getting outdoors and doing something active. Fly fishing is a great sport and can take you to some beautiful places. As a mom of 4 I want my kids to experience the outdoors more and spend less time on their devices. Fly fishing is a great activity to accomplish this – especially now that Drop Jaw has a minpin fly that even our 6 year old can cast!

SIDE NOTE: I told my daughter (pictured below, who is now 11) that the fish slapped my pants and it freaked me out, she said “At least it didn’t slap your face.” When she was 2 a fish did indeed slap her face – I guess she gets her fear of fish from her mother 🙂