Teaching a simple but effective Fly fishing Technique and a trip to the National Wildlife Museum

Our summer shows are upon us and so we have not kept the blog up to date. Still, we have been able to take time to teach Barb and Dan how to fly fish a small stream. On a rainy day we also traveled to Jackson to visit the National Wildlife Museum. The biggest problem fly fishing here is all the willow trees. They crowd the banks and so most beginners spend much of their time retrieving their flies from the willow’s branches. The answer to this is to use a technique called roll casting.

In it you let your fly line float downstream and then flip the rod tip upstream. The line forms a circle and flips the fly upstream. Tying on dry flies we soon had them both making great roll casts. Now if we could only find fish. The water was not clear, stained really, which presented another problem for novices. Walking up stream Dan soon had a fish on and fought it like a pro.

He followed the fish downstream until I could slip the net underneath the Bonneville Cutthroat trout! Its one of the four types of cutthroats needed for a Wyoming Cut slam Award. Barb meanwhile was making cast after cast, but no fish rose to take her fly. Dan returned to the water and soon landed another nice cut.

As we moved upstream Barb soon had fish attacking her fly, but they were small, and she could not get them to take the hook.

Meanwhile I put on a nymph, and underwater presentation. It worked and I caught two cuts and two mountain whitefish. Releasing them we continued upstream but no more fish cooperated. Renita and I were impressed with how quickly they had caught on! Now if we cold only get a fish on Barb’s flyrod. However, the rains started again, and the waters turned muddy. It was time to do something else.

That something else was to visit the National Wildlife Museum in Jackson. Renita had found out that Wyoming residents got in free on Sundays, and that anyone over sixty-five could buy half price tickets. Dan is a veteran, so he only had to pay eight dollars. Driving by you really cannot appreciate the scope of the museum. There are numerous bronzes on the outside but inside we found a multiroom set of galleries. The artworks included many different mediums ranging from stone birds carved by prehistoric Michigan tribes.

As we wandered from gallery to gallery, we stopped to look at the images of the majestic wildlife. One hallway was filled with womens artwork and discussed the difference between arts and crafts. One exhibit stated that the term crafts is used to denigrate womens work.

It was a real treat to see paintings,bronzes, prints, and other medium from around the world. We strongly recommend anyone in the area take a break and spend a day in the museum. Clear skies