I just wanted to thank my buddies Trevor Tanner, Dustin Sergent, Jon Nakano, and Jim Solomon for taking the time to spend a few hours up at the Fishermens’s Spot with me to share their knowledge and help to change lives. This is the best story that came out of our Carp Town Hall this past weekend. A young boy named Ali and his dad, Haissam were glued watching us tie some carp flies and asking great questions about carp on the fly.  Trevor spent time with him making sure he was on point. Ali sat and soaked up all the nuggets of great information in Trevor and Dustin’s presentations. The next day Ali wanted to catch his first fish on the fly and he wanted it to be a carp! So Frank from the Spot took him down to the LA River and they hooked two and landed one beauty. Look at that kid’s smile! That is what it is all about folks, the torch has been past and I am sure Ali will become a great steward and example of fly fishing to his generation. As lefty alway said: “Pass Knowledge forward”

This was the email I received from Ali’s dad last night!

Hi Al,
I know you saw Ali got his first fish on the fly and got his wish for that fish to be a Carp.  It was a pretty sweet fight to watch go down and this beauty took more than a few runs.
You asked for a pic, so here’s one from my camera that hasn’t been posted yet.  

Ali says “Hooked up with a Carp before this one with one of the flies you gave me (you=Al Q) but it managed to escape, thank you very much.”  end of Ali quote

From one generation to the next, anglers take notes while dreaming of that big fish to come. (photo: Jim Burns)

photo courtesy of Ali’s dad, Haissam