Several days ago a small group of Hard Working Dads returned to their respective homes from Northern California.  This special weekend was dedicated to helping those guys out there who bust their bunions every day doing the work and family thing. We love our families and most of us love what we do. It was just great getting together as a group of guys, who have different backgrounds, but very similar stressors. It always amazes me how people who don’t know each other can have so much in common. When you are standing in the water surrounded by beautiful scenery, waving a graphite stick in the air at some trout, everyone quickly becomes equal. Doctors, engineers, and educators are all on the same level playing field. For those few hours we are all just trout bums. This group of bums laughed together, ate great food, had some nice wine and talked about some of the concerns which keep us up at night.

All within a couple of days, we fly fished Hat Creek, the Fall River, the Pit River, and Burney Creek.  A special aspect of our fly fishing activity was to go out after suppers to the Fall River. The Fall River is a boat access only spring creek (meaning the river water is generated by huge springs)  which at this time of year experiences the annual Hex hatch. The Hex or Hexagenia is a type of aquatic bug (mayfly) which emerges from below the water surface as darkness approaches. These mayflies are very large (about two inches) and present themselves as a complete delicacy to the trout.  One could just about set their clock by the 9:15 p.m. emergence. The hatch continued for about thirty minutes which conveniently was the legal time to quit fishing (30 minutes after sunset) in California.

The Hex hatch provided a great time for all. Without an exception those in our group expressed how “cool” it was trying to cast and bring fish in, in the near dark or dark. Not only did we find some great rainbow trout but one of our members even accidentally hooked a muskrat. Everyone especially appreciated our catch-and-release policy with that one!

Our staff can heartily recommend those beautiful Northern California waters to anyone. Our local guides were great and our Hard Working Dads were not only rejuvenated but left with a few down-to-earth tools to help them cope in this crazy working world of ours.  For all the other Hard Working Dads out there that were not at the Hex hatch our thoughts are with you. We hope you understand the importance of connecting with nature and bonding with your brothers.  No matter what we do for our work, we guys benefit from being challenged by nature at it’s best.

If you were not able to join us this year we hope to see you at next years Hex hatch. In the mean time perhaps we can connect on the Madison River in Montana at our Conflict Management event July 31- August 2, 2008. Those fish will make your arm sore!

Here’s to Growth,

Tim