Well I'm a bit backed up on my useless trip reports where it's more backpacking and taking photos of my kid fishing than hawgs, but 
. In fact, I'm pretty sure I've written a report for this exact same trip at least 3 or 4 times now.
For Memorial Day weekend, my Wife, and 5 year old got out on our first backpack of the year. With the 5 year old, it's never far, but were hoping to extend her closer to the 3-4 mile days by the end of the summer. This one was 1.5 miles in but then we dropped our packs and continued on for another mile or so. The destination was one of my favorite little tributaries of a major river. It's full of small rainbows and browns, the majority being in the 4-10" class with a few in the 12-14" class. It's pretty small in most spots (usually around 15' across) and extremely brushy. The river was still high, cold and a little colored up which led to less than stellar fishing.
I brought my 8.5' 5 wt Livingston Glass and my daughter brought her Echo Gecko. I'm not sure what happened over the winter but this kid got bit hard. She wouldn't leave the stream. She was insistent on catching a big fish. That's all she wanted to do. And over the course of the weekend she really got the hang of her water loaded casts. Overhead is still a bit wily for her but she was getting it out 15' or so which was far enough to land two fish: One 6" and one 9" rainbow.
She was pumped, but still disappointed when I told her it wasn't big enough to eat. We raised this kid a vegetarian (my wife is, I am not), and all she wants to do is kill animals--to eat of course.
One thing I also want to note. Holy shit the Echo Gecko is such a sweet rod. Hers is the 7' 6" 4wt "panfish" and it is such a sweet casting rod. If there was an "adult" version of that taper, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. So much so, I came home, immediately sold the Livingston 5wt (it was a redundant 5wt that I didn't need) and found a Ijuin Yomagi 7' 3wt that I'm hoping will bring an equal amount of joy to me on these small streams.
Overall, we caught a handful of small fish nothing over 9" but it was a really good start to the summer for all three of us. And as always ended the weekend with milkshakes and ice cream.
Working on her casting.
Hooked into her first fish of the year.
. In fact, I'm pretty sure I've written a report for this exact same trip at least 3 or 4 times now.For Memorial Day weekend, my Wife, and 5 year old got out on our first backpack of the year. With the 5 year old, it's never far, but were hoping to extend her closer to the 3-4 mile days by the end of the summer. This one was 1.5 miles in but then we dropped our packs and continued on for another mile or so. The destination was one of my favorite little tributaries of a major river. It's full of small rainbows and browns, the majority being in the 4-10" class with a few in the 12-14" class. It's pretty small in most spots (usually around 15' across) and extremely brushy. The river was still high, cold and a little colored up which led to less than stellar fishing.
I brought my 8.5' 5 wt Livingston Glass and my daughter brought her Echo Gecko. I'm not sure what happened over the winter but this kid got bit hard. She wouldn't leave the stream. She was insistent on catching a big fish. That's all she wanted to do. And over the course of the weekend she really got the hang of her water loaded casts. Overhead is still a bit wily for her but she was getting it out 15' or so which was far enough to land two fish: One 6" and one 9" rainbow.
She was pumped, but still disappointed when I told her it wasn't big enough to eat. We raised this kid a vegetarian (my wife is, I am not), and all she wants to do is kill animals
--to eat of course.One thing I also want to note. Holy shit the Echo Gecko is such a sweet rod. Hers is the 7' 6" 4wt "panfish" and it is such a sweet casting rod. If there was an "adult" version of that taper, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. So much so, I came home, immediately sold the Livingston 5wt (it was a redundant 5wt that I didn't need) and found a Ijuin Yomagi 7' 3wt that I'm hoping will bring an equal amount of joy to me on these small streams.
Overall, we caught a handful of small fish nothing over 9" but it was a really good start to the summer for all three of us. And as always ended the weekend with milkshakes and ice cream.
Working on her casting.
Hooked into her first fish of the year.
