Proud of my daughter!
 

I became a single dad in 2000 with a ten year old daughter and 7 year old son under my roof. I'd take them with me fly fishing on weekends because I couldn't leave them at home. At first, they didn't care much for it, preferring to throw rocks and such. But after a few trips my daughter became interested and I taught her to cast, mend and tie on her own flies.

Time passed and she became a young lady, but her interest in fly fishing stayed constant. She casts with a delicate stroke, mends quietly, and sets the hook decisively. For Christmas a few years back, I bought her a nice 9 ft. 4 weight outfit from Little River. In fact, I bought 4 identical rigs (for all the kids now under my new roof.) Thank you for helping us, Paula.

Once or twice a year, I like to treat her and her siblings to some private fly fishing on the Soque River in Georgia at a "pay and play" stretch of river. I know there are mixed feelings among purists about kept fish and "pellet pigs", but for kids (and their dads too) it can be a great treat if you can handle the sticker shock. I figure that if it keeps all of us in the outdoors and out of trouble, it's probably worth it. The fish, honestly, are no push-over. They're fished to hard, almost daily, by good anglers, and catching a trophy is not a gimme. If you can't cast well and get a good drift, you may go home skunked.

It was with some pride, them, that I noticed that on these trips my girl caught fish, and plenty of them, on her visits there.

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As time went by, they grew in size and number.


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It wasn't long before I noted that the student had now passed her dad in her abilities....

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My daughter is home from college and I took her to the Soque last Sunday on a dreary, rainy day. I wasn't surprised when I looked upstream and saw her rod deeply bent at a large pool. After a lengthy tussle, we netted this nice brown.


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http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/m...gabbybrown.jpg


She landed this fish on 5x flouro tippet on a size 20 wd-40 nymph. Well, that's one I know I'll never top. Guess dragging her to the river all those years finally paid off. I'm a proud dad!

And well you should be. Good job all around.

Geez! That girl is in to some fish!:eek: Great photos and I laud your parenting!

Good father and lovely daughter!
 

My complements to you as an outstanding father. My son-in-law was a single parent for several years. He went with baseball and football and he has an outstanding relationship with his son (drafted by the Rockies in 2010). I feel you have the same relationship with your kids. Those are some nice fish. Brigadoon Lodge was featured a few years ago on GA public TV. Awesome but out of my price range.
I understand that the fish travel and are caught outside of the pay areas.

Ditto! You've taught her well. She is obviously doing something right on the water.

Bill

Love the Soque and N. Georgia fishing in general!! I always stop by the bridges when I'm down there to fish some of those holes and pray... :biggrin:
I have battled with those GA trout on 5 and 6x as well and it's no walk in the park! On Dukes I have been left speechless (which is usually quickly followed by profanity) on several occasions as I watch some 20"+ fish swim off with my fly...
Beautiful fish! Great job!!

Tight Lines,

Wow! I think we have the next Vokey on our hands!