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55 °F Forecast | Road Cams Friday, March 11, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend March 7, 2005 Students of Cascade Christian�s introduction to fly-fishing warm up with their fly rods Friday morning. Mail Tribune / Jim Craven School offers fly-fishing course There was a time when one had to skip school to go fishing. That’s not the case at Cascade Christian By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune Andrew Soltis is practicing his roll cast, but his latest effort turns out to be more flop than roll. After some brief instruction, the beginner fly-fisher points his rod skyward and snaps it forward. This time, the fly line rolls expertly outward, eventually depositing his fly 25 feet in front of him. "My problem is that I try to muscle it out there, but the roll cast is all about form and timing," says Soltis, 17. "I have to remember that." Soltis better. The roll cast could be on his next midterm. Or it could be tying the perfect woolly bugger, which size fly rod works best on small trout streams and other ponderables that make up the staples of Cascade Christian High School’s fishiest new course — Fly-Fishing 101. Advertisement The class actually is called "The Compleat Angler" after the book from fly-fisher and conservationist Izaak Walton, who also happens to be the answer to another test question. Twenty-one students are taking the elective four days a week at the private Jacksonville school. They are learning fly-tying, casting, knot-tying, the dynamics of fish, as well as nuances about stream ecology and protection. Greg Miller, who teaches the class with the help of several volunteers, says he crafted the course as a fun alternative to the regular scholastic grind while providing skills and interests that reach well beyond high school. "As a long-term fly-fisher, I know this is something you can do equally as well, or better, at 70 than 17," teacher Gary Miller says. "It’s a long-term activity and I think it brings you closer to conservation." The class also brings Brian Ziegler a little down-time for his brain. Flipping a little yarn around the school’s athletic field lets his synapses take a nap of sorts from such weighty academic pursuits as advanced-placement physics class. "I figured this would be a fun way to take a break in the day and have some fun," says Ziegler, 16, of Medford. "It’s a good way to clear your mind." Besides, a 50-minute class in the fly-tying room is the only chance to get hold of a vise in this Christian school. Junior Becky Cecil, 16, sees the virtue in how the class has provided a way to reach beyond her family’s roots of conventional fishing with spinning rods. "It has a certain look to it, like art, and that intrigues me," says Cecil, whose other electives include French and theater. "I figured, well, I have to learn somewhere." Aaron Lee is learning that, with practice, he can fly-fish. "Anything with the outdoors, I’m a gimp at," says Lee, 16, of Jacksonville. "I can go hang out and go with my dad, take him fishing because he doesn’t get to go as much as he used to." The students are all learning on Sage fly rods and Orvis reels loaned from the Grants Pass-based Southern Oregon Fly Fishers. Club members as well as members from the Medford-based Rogue Flyfishers Association have pitched in on fly-tying and casting classes. The course wraps up when master rod-builder Steve Godshall will help each student build his or her own fly rod. Miller says this is the first semester Cascade Christian has offered the course. He plans to continue it either every one or two semesters in future years. "Obviously, they want to have the fly-fishing skills so they want to do this," Miller says. "But I think it gives some value to the course when you also introduce things like science, insects and river restoration." And for Soltis, it’s also appreciation for something that simultaneously can be as simple as it is complicated. "The real short roll cast is the hardest part so far," Soltis says. "Like I said, it’s all about form and timing." Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Student Loan Consolidation Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers home equity loans helzberg Slippers Student Loans afsa teleconferencing Memory Foam Mattress Advertisement s