Dylan Gibbs with Pigeon River rainbow, 4/24/11 (click picture)

Fred Gibbs drove up from Charlotte, NC with his son, Dylan, for a day of fly fishing instruction on Sunday, April 24, 2011. Altamont Anglers guide Teo Whitlock chose the West Fork Pigeon River for their "classroom", and the Easter Sunday weather could not have been nicer for a young man's initiation to the quiet sport.

Spring hatches are on, now, with Perlidae (Golden Stone) stoneflies in the air and their husks abundant on the rocks. Also in the air: Hendrickson's, myriad caddis flies and the ubiquitous midges.

We don't have photographic proof that Fred learned a thing, but it looks like Dylan was a fast learner (we're guessing Fred was too busy taking pictures to pose for any). Click the thumbnails that follow for the sequence of action leading to Dylan's "grip-and-grin" picture on the left: the fight--Fish On!!--the net and then the trophy on the left.

 

(Altamont Anglers operates on Pisgah National Forest Rivers under USDA Forest Service Permit #PIS6560)