Fun on the River

Today we took six of the kids from our advanced flyfishing class to the Nooksack River. Half of our kids were girls, by the way. No fish were caught, but a great time was had by all.

I was talking with some of the parents later in the day, and we were impressed with the fact that even though the spot we were at had cell service, the only activity the kids had with their phones was to take pictures of each other. It was so nice to see kids having fun old school, without electronic entertainment.

The morning was spent learning to wade and learning flyfishing techniques such as skating, upstream dry fly fishing, swinging, streamer stripping, and nymphing. At noon we headed back to the cars to eat lunch and warm up. While crossing the bridge, Abby and Kalia spotted a school of fish (whitefish) under the bridge. Lunches were scarfed and kids were hurriedly sliding down the bank to try and catch whitefish.

After no luck with the whitefish, the river Olympics were on. Rock skipping, river dancing, and other events were creatively invented by the kids. What's that? Kids being kids? It was refreshing. No fish caught, no need for artificial entertainment, and much laughter and many smiles were the order of the day. Not bad for a bunch of 12-14 year-olds who are "at that age."