Teaching This Old Dog New Fly-Fishing Tricks

 A day on the Big Thompson with Kent Anderson

I have found that a good fly-fishing guide is worth every penny you spend on them. In 40+ years of fly-fishing, I have hired guides as I traveled to different places and new waters. Often, I had limited time to fish an area, so a guide made the trip much more enjoyable than me wasting my time trying to figure out where and how to fish new waters.

However, a recent trip in the Rockies with Kent Anderson, who operates out of Kirk’s Fly Shop was, hands-down, the best guide I ever hired. A day standing in the water with him was like a master’s class in aquatic insects, the feeding habits of trout, the history of trout fisheries, the art of fly casting, how to hook and land big fish and, well, anything and everything that pertains to catching elusive trout. I wish I would have had a guide like him to teach me when I began.

Trout like cool water so they’re often found in mountain lakes and streams or, if in places like Missouri, in waters that pour out from deep springs like the Roaring River or Bennet Springs trout parks. These are cold waters that are stocked each day of the season with hatchery trout. In my opinion, Roaring River is the best place to learn how to fly fish for trout because the water is so clear you can see how trout behave. However, do NOT show up on March 1, which is their opening day, expecting to be able to fly fish. There were more than 2,700 people there for opening day this year and they stood so close to each other on the river bank that if one person sneezed, the other one had to wipe their nose for them.

In other places, there are two basic kinds of streams: free-stone and tail-waters. The Big Thompson is a free-stone stream that tumbles down out of Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) stopping only in Estes Park to form a lake, then coursing on down along Highway 34.

A tail-water is a stream that flows out of dam like Lake Taneycomo in the Branson Area of Table Rock Lake. The water at the bottom of Table Rock is cold enough for trout to live in, so as the dam releases the water at the bottom of the lake, you’ll find people fishing for trout below the dam.

Although I’ve fished the Big Thompson in the past, it has been sporadic and half-hearted since I was usually tent camping with my wife and family in Moraine Park in RMNP. There were other activities more pressing than me clomping off by myself in chest waders with a fly rod and a box of flies. My family knows I lose all sense of time when I slip on my waders, cinch up my fly-fishing vest, rig up my fly rod and head off in chase of the finickiest eaters on the planet. It’s kind of embarrassing how absorbed I become in trying to fool trout with the brain the size of a pea to glom on to one of my flies. But judging by the number of others on the river, I am in good company.

I had been in Denver at a conference and, although I’d rather travel with Christine, she knew it had been a long time since I stood in the cold mountain water waving a big stick around so she green-lighted me to go by myself. She’s a great fly-fishing companion, but her work is demanding this time of the year, so she sent me off with promises I would not  fall in the river.

When I arranged the guide through Kirk’s Fly Shop, I didn’t know who would be assigned to me, but knew the store’s reputation for excellence would ensure I would not be disappointed.

Furthermore, I wanted to be a good client to guide. Like my dad used to say, “Don’t be used as a bad example.” I once learned how NOT to be a bad example for a guide while eavesdropping on three female guides in the car park at the Dream Stream near Spinney Reservoir along the South Platte. I was gearing up near them when they were talking about horrible clients they had guided so I took mental notes:

DON’T:

• Act like you know more than what you really do.
• Brag about all the other big fish you’ve allegedly caught.
• Give the guide instructions on how to guide to the guide.
• Fall in the river.
• Blame the guide because you can’t set a hook right.
• Blame the guide because you can’t land a big fish.
• Balme the guide because you’re a lousy fisherman.
• Share honey holes with ANYONE!

DO:

• Be humble.
• Ask for instructions.
• Act on the instructions given.
• Tip well.

I met Kent at the fly shop and then followed him down the canyon to a couple of his honey holes with an agreement I’d keep my mouth shut about the location. I did that once when I was just learning to fly fish and instantly regretted it, so I assured him my lips were sealed. I learned that, if you share a fisherman’s honey-hole and they find out, they’ll likely take you back to it and hold your head under water until the bubbles stop.

Although I told him I had been fly-fishing for 40+ years, I explained that I wanted him to feel free to teach me anything he felt like sharing and, if he saw flaws in any of my casting, hooking or landing mechanics, to feel free to correct me. I was there to learn and catching fish was a good thing, but I mainly wanted to learn what he knew.

Oh, my goodness! I not only learned a tremendous amount, but I also caught a lot of fish! A couple of hours into it he asked, “How many fish have you caught?”

“It’s kind of like golf,” I replied. “I don’t keep score because if I keep score, I only get frustrated. So, I have no idea how many fish I’ve caught.”

“Great answer,” he exclaimed. “That means you’ve caught more fish than you can count!”

While I told him I was not a trophy hunter, nonetheless, I always hope to catch a big trout. Now, mind you, catching a large, finicky, wary, trout on a size #20 zebra midge (five will fit on a nickel) with a super-thin line is not an easy thing to do. Those trout didn’t get to be that big by being stupid. They’re more suspicious than your Mother when you break curfew. Once hooked, they fight you worse than an MMA fighter and use the power of a rushing mountain stream to throw you off balance in hopes you’ll fall in and forget about them. Trust me; I learned those lessons the hard way.

However, Kent was such a great mentor, I managed to land several trout larger than I have in my previous years of fishing. Okay, well, maybe I did land that one very large hatchery trout at a trout pond that one time using my grandson’s $9.95 Paw Patrol pole and a worm because he ran off after he threw it in, but that doesn’t count. Landing a hatchery fish versus a wild trout is like taking your sister to the senior prom because no one else would say yes.

As I drove away from the best day I’ve had on the water in memory, it dawned on me that Kent had done for me what I hope to do for others. A few years back when people were coming up with their “word” for the year, I decided mine was going to be an acronym to guide me: A.I.M.

A – Add value

I – Inspire

M -Mentor

In those few short hours, Kent added tremendous value to my fly-fishing experience and inspired me to become even better in the years to come. Furthermore, even though he was quite a few years younger than me, I will always consider him to be one of my greatest fly-fishing mentors.

He taught this old dog quite a few new tricks and I can’t wait to use them.

If you’d like to hire Kent, you can reach him at:

Phone: (970) 290-6286

Email: Anderson.Kent08@gmail.com

Please visit Kirk’s Fly Shop. It’s one of the best in the nation. www.kirksflyshop.com