Fly Fishing My Cares Away

I take the kids to a lot of classes.

Piano…swimming…church…band…I’m always ferrying someone somewhere to take a class for something. So it was a nice switch-up for me when I took my own class a few weekends ago — at an Orvis fly fishing school.

I’m not a fisherperson — I caught my first fish when I was 32, at the same time my 6-year old caught his first. So I knew almost nothing about it. I reported to the Fly Fishing Outfitters in Avon (near Vail), and headed out for a day learning to fly fish.

We actually began by practice-casting on the lawn at The Lodge and Spa at Cordillera — just flicking the rod back and forth and getting the hang of how to cast a line. I learned knot-tying

and watched a video of someone demonstrating how to fly fish. After a delicious lunch at the lodge, we headed to a pond to try out what I’d learned.

And it worked! After trying a few different spots, and after watching the fish flit around my line and mock me a bit, I caught one. We took some pictures

and I also learned how to treat the fish so I could let it go safely once we were done. He swam off, and I had no more luck that day.

I will say this — this was a class I took. The focus was on getting the basics and fundamentals of fly fishing so I can go out on my own in the future. This isn’t a guided fly fishing trip where guides take you out fishing all day and do most of the work for you. We spent the entire morning learning, not fishing until later in the day. But if you’re interested in learning about the actual sport of fly fishing — so you can go on your own, or maybe bring your family — this will get you schooled in the basics and help you feel comfortable doing that.

They offer 1- and 2-day fishing schools, and my guide was saying that whole families will sign up to take classes together (he also said moms are especially good at fly fishing — I think because we have endless amounts of patience? Or maybe we’re just too tired to move much and scare the fish).

In a world where I feel like I’m always trying to get the kids off electronics and outdoors, a family hobby like fly fishing seems like a great way to spend some time together outdoors. You can find Orvis fly fishing classes here.