Instructor, students hooked on fly fishing
Thomas was taught to fly fish by his elderly, down-the-street neighbors who had decided he "played too much basketball."
"These two guys walked down the street one time and said, 'We're gonna do something to change your life,' and I didn't really believe that, but it has," Thomas said.
Nearly 40 years of tying flies and casting lines later, Thomas is teaching others the sport he loves through community continuing education classes as well as classes offered by RoundRocks Fly Fishing. With enrollment in one of his crash courses, he said, would-be fly fishers can get a head start of several years.
"If you start this out and you try to learn this without anybody showing you, it can take a long time," Thomas said.
That's because fly fishing is more than just the distinctive cast it's often associated with. Part physics, part entomology, part arts and crafts, the sport uses "flies" hooks decorated with ribbon and feathers to resemble actual bugs to tempt prey. And to know what to tempt them with is a big part of the battle.
To drive the point home, in a recent class Thomas and his friend Doug Wilkins trolled the Logan River with a large screen, pulling up an abundance of insects in their infancy to show the class what they look like and that they are there below the water. Thomas explains the creatures he captured in a Tupperware basin while calmly coaxing a leech off his forefinger. There's a salmonfly nymph, large, six-legged, two-tailed, delicious. There are a few tiny midges. There is even a sculpin, a small fish that makes a great snack for trout.
Once these below-surface foods are understood, Thomas said, it's easier to know what to fish with.
"It's very important to understand the life cycles," Thomas said.
After the explanation, Thomas sends the class around RoundRocks to find flies that resemble the creatures of the river. Size, shape and color are the most important factor, and the students return with a myriad of clever hooks that do indeed look like the bugs, a colorful, fuzzy assortment.
Bugs, according to Thomas, are the biggest factor in fly fishing. A fisherman must assess each time on the river what bugs are out, and therefore what insects the fish will be looking to eat. It's better to have a bad cast, he said, than bad flies.
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