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Kate Heitmann
“Salmon Sam”
“Halibut Hayden”
“Jackall Jack”
The members of the Fly Fishing Club went around in a circle introducing themselves. Their task was to add a type of fish in front of their name that starts with the same letter. It was a special day — they’d be casting their fly fishing rods and lines for the first time. With the lack of rivers or lakes nearby, the football field was their best, and only, option for the meeting.
Sophomore Jack Kessler started the SME Fly Fishing Club in February. They’ve had four meetings so far, where they practice tying flies — which act as the bait in fly fishing — and casting.
Kessler along with sophomores Sam Streiler and Connor Bykowski have been fishing since they were 3 years old. However, they just started fly fishing together three years ago. Together, they take float boats and tents to go on fishing trips in Arkansas, often dedicating two full days to fishing.
When school was canceled due to inclement weather in February, they went on an impromptu fishing trip, waking up at 6:30 a.m. that Saturday to make the drive to the White River in Arkansas — their favorite fishing spot. They’ll go out in their float boat, which they crafted out of a canoe, one time staying up until 5:30 a.m. to mouse for brown trout.
They’d spent years spinner-rod fishing — what most people think of when they hear “fishing.” However, once they discovered fly fishing, they couldn’t go back.
“We were the only people that I knew that were really into fly fishing,” Kessler said. “We started a club to see if anyone else is interested in it, and a couple [of] people started coming.”
They want to be able to not only share with others the technical aspects of how to tie a clinch knot or a surgeon loop but also lead them to experience nature.
“Through fly fishing, me and my friends, we spend tons of time outside in nature fly fishing, and I think it’s really special to be able to be outside all the time,” Kessler said. “A lot of people would really like the opportunity to interact with nature, but without an avenue to fly fish, they wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity and be stuck inside.”
At their March 22 meeting, 12 students attended — their largest group yet. They’ve started an Instagram account @smeflyfishing where they post their latest individual catches.
“Right now it’s mostly just kind of teaching people about fly fishing but people are getting into it,” Kessler said.
At their first meetings, Kessler brought tying materials and the club followed along YouTube tutorials to tie a fly. At their latest meeting, they went out onto the football field armed with fly rods. Each member practiced casting a line out onto the turf (minus the hooks, of course). According to Kessler, the movement of the line, often between 50 or 100 feet long, is all in the wrist.
“A lot of people see people cast it on the air but don’t realize how hard it is,” Kessler said. “So there’s [a] surprise but then also they found out how fun it was when they can actually get the line to go where they want it to go.”
The satisfying moment when the line was cast all the way across the field made the difficulty worth it even for those inexperienced with fishing or who normally spinner-rod fish.
“We hadn’t been casting before so I think that really brought in more people,” Streiler said. “People just saw us casting out on the field and just wanted to try it out.”
With the weather warming up and hosting their first successful casting event, they plan to increase their meeting times from once a month to every other week. They hope to eventually be able to take the club to Shawnee Mission Park or a pond or river nearby to practice the skills they’ve learned during seminar on a real pond — not just a turf field.
However, all fishers over the age of 16 must have a fishing license, posing another challenge for the club. Until then, you can find the fly fishing club out treating the turf field like a fish-filled river in Arkansas.
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