12-23 SS Boy to Man

 How does a kid from Maine who has never fished before make it to the Northwest as an expert flyfisherman? A coming-of-age tale next.

 I met Terry Heneghan up in Sun Valley while playing in an annual hockey tournament. Sipping my favorite IPA in the locker room afterwards with Terry, I heard his story about ending up in Sun Valley as an expert fisherman.  “I started fishing as a kid growing up in Maine, it was mostly spin fishing, in fact I remember my folks got me a fly rod when I was around 12 and I had no idea what to do with the thing. So I took the fly rod, I couldn’t cast it, I didn’t know how and I had nobody to teach me so I took the rod and put a spinning reel on it because it was a great tool for hoisting the bass out of the weeds in this little pond we had at the end of the lake and we used to get some pretty nice bass out of there. I still have that fly rod with me and when I moved to Idaho I was playing on a club lacrosse team and I got hit and I separated and dislocated my shoulder, I was working as a landscaper at the time so I couldn’t work and I was bored out of my mind. So I went to this place called Silver Creek outfitters in Ketchum and said I want to learn how to fly fish. They sold me a fly rod and a kit, inexpensive rod and reel situation and a few flies, I had a buddy who took me out to a pond to show me how to cast a little bit, I think I caught a little brook trout or rainbow trout at the time.