As mentioned in my previous post, I was invited to give a presentation to 3rd graders at a local public school here in Denver yesterday. I guess I should have been more nervous than I was, but what could a bunch of 8 and 9 year-old kids do?

As soon as I entered the room, kids were already asking questions – “Did you bring real bugs?” and “How old are you?” I told them maybe, and that I was 78. I started by asking the kids about what they thought about the book “River Dreams”, which they had read recently. To my surprise, they were all very knowledgeable about the book and told me all about it. I pointed to a picture in the book and asked, “Do you know what kind of trout this is?” They all quickly answered with “RAINBOW, RAINBOW, RAINBOW”. Man, was I impressed.

So, I passed around a few pictures of some real trout (rainbows, browns, and cutthroats). Then, I brought out the rod and reel. They passed all these around the room with such interest! After those circulated and I answered a few questions, I broke out the vest and started pulling things out of the pockets left and right. This included the real stone-flies I had caught a few days before, as well as tied flies. I showed them how we tried to imitate these aquatic insects to the real ones. I think fascination set in at that point, and I was having as much fun as the kids. As they passed the fly boxes around, they gently petted each fly. One of the funniest parts was when one kid asked what kind of fly this was. Luckily, he picked out the Woolly Bugger – the class erupted in laughter.

After the bugs were passed around, I started the video trailer for “In the Land of the Cutthroats”. This was a perfect fit because the book talked about mayflies, and so does the movie. They were amazed by the feeding trout loops and the time-lapse of tying flies. They were also very excited that this was filmed right here in Colorado. After the video, the kids wanted to keep the DVD! Ha! Like I would give that one up.

As a conclusion, I had printed copies of the Fishy Kid coloring book, and their teacher let them start coloring before they had to start their math lesson. These kids were awesome! Some of the coloring, and the pictures they chose first, were just, well, surprising. Some liked the cover with the Fishy Kid logo, others went right to the flies, but overall they were very content and quite as I said my goodbyes.

Overall, I’m not sure who had a better time – me or the kids. But I’m assuming the kids. I even got some of the books back already because they wanted to show me. I wouldn’t ever hesitate to do this again. Hopefully, some of these kids will actually go out, pick up a rod, reel and flies and start casting. The future of our sport is upon us friends!

Thanks again to Umpqua Feather Merchants, Reel-Escape Films, Ross Reels, and Fishy Kid for the support. As well as all of you who provided trout pictures and ideas on how to teach the class.