The fish are flying. Everywhere.
Little orange plastic fish, each weighing less than an ounce, soar across the dirt parking lot. A tangle of fishing line sprawls out in front of more than a dozen children. With each new cast, an orange fish dances across the gravel, adding to the maze.
Ray Chen has a bright smile. The day is off to a great start.
It’s a warm, cloudless morning in Littleton, and the fishing clinic at Lake Lehow is just beginning. Today’s clinic is hosted by Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) and run by long-time angler outreach volunteer Ray Chen. Along with Ray, there are several other volunteers hosting the clinic.
Ray and the others are about to be quite busy as this clinic’s pack of Cub Scouts pursues panfish, bass and rainbow trout.
For now, the fish keep flying. Ray coaches several kids through the process of casting. For many of these children, it’s the first time they’ve held a fishing rod. After 15 minutes of practice, the group seems to have the hang of it.
There’s squealing and bubbly laughter from the children, and the “zing!” of fishing line flying off reels.
“I wish I started [fishing] this way,” Ray says with a laugh.
Gravel crunches loudly under the Cub Scouts’ footfall, parents in tow, as Ray leads them to the edge of Lake Lehow. Ray sets a tackle box down on a nearby picnic table and cracks it open. Instantly the children swarm him, all trying to catch a peek at what treasures the old Flambeau box holds.
The kids fervently ask questions about the day’s tackle. The golden snap-swivels sparkling in the morning light. The old jar of PowerBait. The large red and white bobbers. What’s the best bait. What’s the best way to catch a fish. The wonder of a first-time angler is something Ray handles with ease.
“Sometimes we do use PowerBait, but today we are going to use worms first,” Ray shares with the eager on-lookers.
“Anytime it’s not productive we’ll change it. Meaning if we don’t catch anything, we’ll change something until we catch one,” he adds.
With curious eyes watching his every move, Ray baits a few hooks with small pieces of a nightcrawler. One by one, the kids race off to the edge of the lake and begin casting.
As the bank fills up with excited anglers and no more hooks need bait (for now), Ray takes an extra rod and strolls toward the water. He starts making his rounds. Then a young angler approaches Ray.
“I already lost my bait,” the Cub Scout says, with a slight shyness.
“Okay, well let’s put a new one on there. Do you want a new rod, or are you going to keep that one?” Ray asks.
The Cub Scout opts to keep his current rod, leaving Ray with the spare. Once the young angler’s rod is re-rigged, Ray moseys down the walking path.
With the spare rod, Ray decides to get in on the festivities. Throwing an extra bobber out there offers him a chance to lead by example, he shares with a little smirk. More importantly, if he hooks something, there’s an opportunity to pass the rod to a kid, and give them the experience of landing a fish.
For the 55-year-old software engineer, volunteering is what put a fishing rod back in his hands. He was an avid angler back in his 20s. When he was in college, it was one of his go-to activities. But entering the workforce and starting a family took his time in another direction. Fishing slowly faded from his life.
It wasn’t until a few years ago he got back into the sport. He attended a fishing clinic hosted by CPW and rediscovered his love of fishing. From there, a flickering flame within Ray exploded into a wildfire.
In the years since that pivotal clinic of reinvigoration, he’s become a regular volunteer with CPW’s angler outreach program.
“I like your cast, that looks like a great location,” Ray says to a young angler, patiently watching a bobber some 15 feet out from the bank.
He continues his rounds, baiting more hooks and answering curious Cub Scout questions.
These days, Ray is an avid fly fisherman to say the least. He shrugs off the assertion of being too hard core, although Euro nymphing is by far how he spends most of his time on the water. He still considers himself a casual angler, but he’s got a voracious appetite for slinging flies into deep green pools and swift riffles. But even when he’s not fishing, he just loves being out on the water.
Euro-nymphing
Euro-nymphing is short for European nymphing, a style of fly fishing where weighted flies are drifted below the water’s surface without a strike indicator or dry fly above them. The angler relies entirely on feel to know when there is a strike. Among the angling community, it’s considered one of the highest levels of fly fishing from both a skills and technical aspect.
Ray still works full time, so fitting fishing into his and his family’s schedule can be tricky at times. The same is true for his volunteering endeavors. But the flexibility of the Angler Outreach program allows the Aurora-based fisherman to help out when his calendar permits.
It takes the pressure off, but keeps him active with his pursuits of both fish and passing on his passion, he says. There’s no stress to help out every weekend, or make sure he’s there for each clinic. Volunteers are able to help when they can and because they want to, which Ray really appreciates.
“It’s a fun gig to do … So I go fishing one day, and the other day I’m here helping out folks. You manage the time,” Ray says.
Finding the time to volunteer with angler outreach is really important to Ray. For him, helping at clinics is how he opens the garden gate for others to explore a whole new world, just as he experienced years ago.
“This is one of the things that will help people get into fishing,” Rays says.
“We make it fun … We’re not trying to make you the best angler in the world. But we do try to get you started so you can become any level of angler you want to be, and do as much as is fun for you,” he adds.
When it comes to volunteering, Ray also sees it as a way to build community. It’s the perfect pathway for strengthening his social bonds. It allows him to make new friends and connect with fellow volunteers, who he considers mentors and great storytellers as well.
“Part of it, there’s some friendship being developed, and who doesn’t want to help their friends, right?” he says.
The high-noon sun beats down.
The clinic is wrapping up, with many of the Cub Scouts and their parents packing up or already heading home. A handful of panfish and a couple of trout sprinkled throughout the morning brought plenty of excitement.
The last remaining angler works a shallow weedbed. He’s resolved to catch something. One more cast. One more fish. One last cast. One last fish. His mom calls on him to wrap it up, and he slinks back to her.
Ray guides the angler and his mother back to the gravel parking lot. In a large gear storage shed beside the last car in the lot, all the practice casting rods lean against the shed’s plywood siding.
Ray adjusts the rods. He scans the room one last time and closes the large bay door. Another successful clinic in the books.
Inside the shed, 30-something little orange plastic fish sit in the inky darkness. They’re scratched, worn and tightly strung to their respective rods.
It’s safe to say they collect little dust. At least if Ray Chen has anything to do with it.
Written and photographed by Forrest Czarnecki. Forrest is a Colorado hunter and angler, and he is a Digital Media Specialist for Colorado Parks and Wildlife.