A River Runs Through It

Snowboarding, Fly-fishing, Backpacking, Kayaking, guitar,

In the summer of 2007 my brother and I took a two week trip to Wyoming, where we stayed at a ranch and fished various rivers around Jackson Hole. It was incredible fishing to say the least, but my fondest memory was sneaking onto a private ranch outside Dubois, Wy, on the Wind River one night just before sundown. We had no idea what to expect fishing so far outside of town, and little time left before we had to make our way back over the barbed fences to the car. With little light left we were stripping large streamers through the fast current, letting them swing into side pockets, and slowly retrieving them back upstream. My older brother tyler, had a line breaking strike just downstream from where I was that broke off his white woolly, and yelled for me to come down quick. I stumbled over the boulders excited by the hurry in his voice. He stood next to me on a large rock and told me exactly what to do, "cast 45 degrees downstream, no no..don't strip, let the line do the work, and once the white streamer hits that pocket give it one hard strip upstream." Trusting him of course, I did exactly that. The second I stripped the fly back towards me there was a thud, followed by a fight down stream over the now dark rocks and unexpected pockets of water. As the fish tired I began to pull him in slowly, now 70 yards downstream from where we started. Tyler, without any net of course, waded into the black water to grab the fish. I was not worried until I caught a glimpse that outlined the fish, I immediately told my brother that if he did not get this fish onto the shore, I would not talk to him again. To my relief this 24.5 inch brown had no fight left, and was landed safely over hard ground. We were both in total shock, trying to fathom if this was really happening. There was a series of "holy shit's" and high fives before we snapped a picture and let this river shark return to his domain. It was one of those few fishing experiences where almost everything went just right, and the feeling was and still is indescribable.

The old man and the sea

My name is Dylan Treece, I'am 18 years old and live in Columbus, OH. I have grown up around fishing and the outdoors my entire life and feel extremely passionate about Fly-fishing and everything that comes with it. My older brother, Tyler Treece, works and guides for Mad River outfitters here in columbus, and is the one I have to thank for almost all my knowledge of this sport. I will be going to college in Boulder, CO next fall and plan to work, fish and maybe even study out there for the next four years