Last week, with the help of current parent/board member Will Downing, TMS alumni Harry Kearney ‘11, and gear and flies from Telluride Outside, all of the lower school students at Telluride Mountain School had the opportunity to fly fish during science class. We walked right down the hill to the San Miguel and hid our shadows on the riverbank in the afternoon sun. On the first day, when a first grader joyfully landed a small brook trout, her energy was so contagious that it was impossible to not be excited, too. On the next day, when a third grader missed a trout, he was so excited to share that he saw the fish’s shiny side that he wasn’t even upset about not catching it. On the final day, a fifth grader kept asking for just one more cast…one more cast…one final cast. It was all so special!
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This undertaking - getting 40 students between ages 6-12 to cast a fly rod into the river - connects intentionally to our science curriculum this year. Over the next six months, all of the lower school students at TMS will participate in Trout in the Classroom, a nationwide program where students raise rainbow trout from eggs into small fish that we’ll release this April. This project is a partnership with Colorado Trout Unlimited, CPW, and Gunnison Gorge Anglers. In preparation for the arrival of the eggs, students learned about what makes an ideal trout habitat, why trout are important to an ecosystem, and how those ecosystems come together to make a watershed. Before fishing, the students also studied the life cycles of mayflies, stoneflies, caddisflies, and midges - and they matched different fly patterns to the stages in the insect life cycle. As the year goes on, they will observe the life cycle of the trout and see how our freestone rivers change throughout the year. They’ll collect weekly water quality data in our tank, document the growth of the trout over time, feed them, and care for them as they grow. The eggs are arriving in just one week - and we can’t wait!
Some of the coolest moments with kids are the ones when their energy is contagious. There’s something about seeing the world with children that makes older eyes become new and young again, even if it’s just for a minute. That’s part of the magic of fly fishing, too -
the way that looking for trout helps us see the river in a new way, with an appreciation for all the interconnections within an ecosystem, a watershed, or a place. How lucky we are, as a community, to have brought both of those things to life and experienced them during science class this week!! We have a great year ahead.
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