Passing It On: Ashland Anglers Share Fly-Fishing Tradition With a New Generation
ASHLAND, Ohio — For generations, outdoor knowledge has traveled through families and communities, passed from parents, grandparents, relatives and neighbors to young people eager to learn.
That tradition was alive at Tom Kruse Wildlife Conservation Park, where experienced anglers freely shared decades of fly-fishing knowledge during the Ashland County Park District’s second fly-fishing class.
Children and adults gathered near the Davy Outdoor Education Center to learn how to cast a fly rod before taking their new skills to the park’s pond. Long loops of fly line sailed through the air as veteran anglers worked one-on-one with beginners, offering advice, encouragement and the occasional correction.
Some participants were holding a fly rod for the first time. Their instructors brought a combined lifetime of experience.
Volunteer Tim Maust has fly-fished for approximately 20 years, traveling from Alaska to Arkansas’ White River and fishing several Michigan waterways, including the Pere Marquette River.
Maust said he was struck by the number of people who came to learn, and by the broad range of ages represented.
“I was standing on the line watching all these people who are interested in fly-fishing and seeing so much fly line going back and forth through the air,” Maust said. “It was incredible.”
Maust said the gathering showed that outdoor recreation can bring generations together.
“We’ve got young folks here, and we’ve got some older folks here,” he said. “There’s quite an age difference, and they all seem to be enjoying it equally. It’s pretty cool.”
Decades of Experience Freely Shared
Among the instructors was Ashland Municipal Court Judge John L. Good, who has spent approximately 50 years fly-fishing.
Good has cast flies in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Canada and waters north of the Arctic Circle. Some of his favorite memories come from pursuing wild brook trout in small mountain streams in western Pennsylvania.
On this evening, however, Good’s attention was not on distant waters or trophy fish. It was on helping Ashland County children develop the skills he had to learn largely by himself.
“I wish that I would have had what these kids had when I was trying to start,” Good said. “There was nobody in my family who fly-fished.”
As a boy in southern Ohio, Good improvised his own flies using aluminum foil from his mother’s kitchen, thread from her sewing kit and feathers from birds. He learned through outdoor magazines and television programs, often figuring out equipment and techniques through trial and error.
That experience made it especially meaningful for him to stand beside young anglers and give them the guidance he never had.
“You had a bunch of old guys out here like me, Jeff Gerbick and Bob DeSanto,” Good said. “We’ve made all the mistakes. We’ve hooked our ears, we’ve hooked our noses, we’ve made all the mistakes. So, we do know how to tell the kids what to do.”
The children listened and their results impressed their instructors.
“Some of those little girls were dropping that fly right in that hula hoop every time,” Good said. “It was impressive.”
Good also pushed back against the belief that fly-fishing is reserved for experts or people with expensive equipment.
“There’s this myth that fly-fishing is hard. It’s not true,” he said. “It’s easy, and it’s for everybody.”
He described fly-fishing as a beautiful and enjoyable way to experience the outdoors, whether someone is pursuing mountain trout, pond bluegill, creek chubs or carp.
“It doesn’t have to be fancy fish, and it doesn’t have to be fancy equipment,” Good said. “It’s just a different way to fish.”
Lessons Continued Until Dark
Ashland County Park District Commissioner Robert DeSanto said participants enjoyed practicing their casts before heading to the pond and fishing until darkness settled over the park.
“They were still out there trying that fly-fishing, and they caught a few fish,” DeSanto said. “We’re very happy with that.”
The casting exercises produced plenty of laughter and excitement, particularly as children tried to land their practice flies inside hula hoops placed on the ground as targets.
DeSanto said several adults also learned to fly-fish for the first time.
“There were a number of adults who learned for the first time how to fly-fish, and they worked at it,” he said.
Because fly-fishing requires timing and technique, progress does not always come immediately. That made watching new anglers improve throughout the evening especially rewarding for the volunteers.
DeSanto said the Park District will likely offer additional fishing programs, including instruction on traditional bait fishing and using spinning rods and reels.
“I think we’ll do more of these next year, but we’ll also do basic fishing,” DeSanto said. “Fly-fishing is just one form of fishing. We’ll do some basic courses for all kinds of fishing. I think the kids will enjoy it.”
An Outdoor Vision Coming to Life
The class also demonstrated the purpose behind the Davy Outdoor Education Center and the broader mission of the Ashland County Park District: creating opportunities for people, particularly children, to experience the outdoors.
DeSanto said such programs can help parents who may want to introduce their children to fishing but lack the knowledge or experience to teach them.
“This is a whole new dimension, and it’s assistance to parents who maybe don’t have the experience to get their kids outdoors,” DeSanto said. “We can get it done, and we like to do it. It’s fun for us. It is very satisfying to watch what’s happening here.”
Good said the park system’s opportunities extend well beyond fishing. Visitors can hike, watch birds and explore public lands, while young people can gain experiences they otherwise might never receive.
He credited DeSanto’s vision and the support of Ashland County residents with helping build a park system where those opportunities are open to the public.
“His vision was that there are kids out there who have no opportunities to do the things that we love to do,” Good said. “He wanted to do something about it.”
That vision could be seen in every cast: an experienced hand guiding a beginner, a child discovering something new and knowledge earned across decades being freely passed to another generation.
For the volunteers, that may have been the greatest catch of the evening.
