Tyler and his Dad, Jeff, have fly fished with me a number of times now, and Dad selflessly does everything he can for Tyler to hook the most fish—and, if Tyler’s recounting of those trips is accurate (and Jeff says it is)—Tyler has had the upper hand. Today, however, justice was served with Jeff doing the hooking and landing, in spite of challenging conditions of low, nearly crystal Muskegon River flows. Here, Jeff poses a buck steelhead, his first ever, with his having landed it on a seven weight fly rod. He may well have brought the second steelhead he hooked to hand, too, but in the process of his attempting to hand his rod to Tyler to fight the fish, the steelhead charged upstream, creating slack line, and, well, bye-bye steelhead, as is so often the case with slack in the line. Tyler, to his credit, though, was nonetheless thrilled for Dad’s success, as was his guide! Truth is, I love running family float trips like this one because I know that the day, whether it results in fish boated or fish lost, will be recounted time after time with smiles all around. Congratulations, Jeff! So happy for you and Tyler!
Captain Tom Kuieck
