Somers students learn fly tying, fishing in Glacier Park
<p>Patrick Cote/Daily Inter Lake Somers School students fish along the shore of Lake McDonald Friday morning in Glacier National Park. The eighth-graders are studying the book "A River Runs Through It" as part of there science and history curriculum. Friday, May 25, 2012 in Glacier National Park, Montana.</p>
<p>Patrick Cote/Daily Inter Lake Sarah Louden, left, helps Boyd Hicks with his casting technique Friday morning in Glacier National Park. Somers students learned the basics of fly casting during their physical education classes leading up to the trip to Glacier National Park. Friday, May 25, 2012 in Glacier National Park, Montana.</p>
<p>Patrick Cote/Daily Inter Lake Somers eighth-grader Trey Fountain ties a fly to his line Friday morning in Glacier National Park. Friday, May 25, 2012 in Glacier National Park, Montana.</p>
<p>Patrick Cote/Daily Inter Lake Taylor Rayland watches her line go back as she casts Friday morning in Glacier National Park. Friday, May 25, 2012 in Glacier National Park, Montana.</p>
<p>Patrick Cote/Daily Inter Lake BIll Bosslet, center, shows Somers School either-graders how to clip the ends of foam for the Bunyan bugs they tied Friday morning at Lake McDonald Lodge in Glacier National Park. Friday, May 25, 2012 in Glacier National Park, Montana.</p>
<p>Patrick Cote/Daily Inter Lake Jacob Calles ties a Bunyan bug Friday morning at Lake McDonald Lodge in Glacier National Park. Friday, May 25, 2012 in Glacier National Park, Montana.</p>
A group of Somers Middle School eighth-graders leaned over fly-tie vises and wrapped thread around foam “insect” bodies to make Bunyan Bug ties at Glacier National Park’s Lake McDonald Lodge last week.
The students were on their own fly-fishing adventure based on the novel “A River Runs Through It,” by Norman Maclean.
Each Bunyan Bug was unique to the student making it. Only a few of the 68 students on the field trip had been fly fishing before.
Fourteen-year-old Matthew Knowlton’s tie dangled from the vise as he helped Trey Fountain, 14, with his tie.
Knowlton was one of the few students who was a fly angler. He said the sport differed in many ways from spin casting.
“If you jerk your hand too hard, the fly will snap off, and when you throw line, it can change directions,” Knowlton said.
Fountain added, “You pull line out and then cast.”
Sitting nearby, Kaleb Frame, 14, said he had learned this way of fishing was more physical than spin casting.
“Every 10 to 15 seconds you have to pull back your line and cast,” Frame said.
During the field trip, each student learned to make Bunyan Bugs, the tie used in the novel, attached the flies to rods, and finally stood before Lake McDonald to try their hand at casting line. The field trip was part of a cross-curricular project surrounding the reading of “A River Runs Through It” in eighth-grade teacher Luke Johnson’s language arts classes.
“A River Runs Through it” is a semiautobiographical book based on the author’s memories of growing up in Missoula. In the story, the activity of fly fishing is integral in tying the family together.
This is the fourth year Johnson’s classes have done a unit on the book, but the first time they have gone on a field trip, which was possible thanks to a $1,000 Somers PTA Leap and Live grant to purchase 12 fly-fishing rods, flies and reels.
“We’re definitely doing this again next year,” Johnson said.
As part of the unit, Johnson said, students had been writing memoirs, and the trip would give them something to add to the stories, linking their own lives to fly fishing in Montana and the book.
“It was pretty cool to see them go out there and fish,” he said.
Students learned how to cast over a few days in P.E. They also learned the history of Montana during the 1920s and ’30s.
In science class, they learned to identify flora and fauna in Glacier; students went on a hike during their field trip to search for insects, trees and animal tracks they’d learned about.
They also watched clips of people fly fishing in the book’s film adaptation, which starred Brad Pitt as Paul Maclean, Norman’s brother.
Many students found out during the field trip that “it’s really much harder than Brad Pitt makes it look,” Johnson said.
At the lodge, one group formed a circle around Somers sixth-grade language arts teacher Sarah Louden, while paraprofessional Mary Smith attached the flies to the rods. Louden and Smith are both avid fly anglers.
Louden gave students some tips before they started casting: “You don’t want to let out too much line, or you can get tangled.”
Smith came prepared for a day of fly fishing dressed in chest waders.
“Our family has been fishing, oh, for the last 15 years,” she said while showing students to dip their flies in floatant. “It’s a total art. You can’t just drop your line; it will scare the fish.”
Nearby, pairs of students with their rods stood at the water’s edge bringing their arms down and up, the fishing line arcing in the air, practicing the rhythmic back-and-forth casting of fly fishing.
“A lot of them voiced interest wanting to do this. One of the kids said he found an old fly-fishing rod in his garage. It’s fun for them to do what they learn in school and in literature and apply to their lives,” Johnson said.
Although the day was overcast and a bit windy, students eagerly grabbed rods and bounded down to Lake McDonald. When asked if wind affects casting significantly, Smith only said with a smile, “Fly casters don’t say the ‘w’ word.”
Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.