This past weekend was the best and most memorable weekend of my young life. No, not because of the sunrise on the river, empty fishing access site, or streamer-eating brown trout. But because I married Kameron, the woman of my dreams, and our loving family and friends came together to celebrate the start of our married life.
I know this is a fly fishing blog, and my marriage may not seem to be related. But if you know me, you know every aspect of my life involves fishing to some degree. Now, don’t get me wrong. Kameron and I’s relationship means so much more than fishing. We have been together for almost ten years, and fishing is a small part of the story, but fishing and our marriage will forever be intertwined.
I had never touched a fly rod before I met Kameron. I spent a few days each summer fishing conventional tackle with my family growing up. After a few years of dating Kameron, her father invited me on a float trip during the salmonfly hatch on the South Fork of the Boise River. He put a fly rod into my hand, and I have yet to put it down.
Meeting Kameron and connecting with her family led me to find my passion and changed my life forever. I found myself in Montana going to Montana State University, spending my free time exploring all the blue ribbon fisheries in the area. It led me to forego a summer internship to trout bum around the West, living out my truck and fishing the rivers of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming. Today, I structure my life around fly fishing and have started this blog where I write about my passion every week. It’s unbelievable how much my life has changed since meeting her.
Many people ask if Kameron fishes herself and are surprised to hear she doesn’t. While she occasionally joins to take pictures and sometimes makes a few casts, she doesn’t enjoy it like her family. Just because she doesn’t partake in the passion doesn’t mean she fails to support it. She is often my biggest advocate when planning fishing trips, and I wouldn’t live the fishing life I do without her. She is an angel for all her support over the years on and off the water. We have built a relationship that works for us and have worked to keep fishing a part of it. There is nothing I am more proud of than the relationship we have built through the challenges we have endured.
Her father has been a mentor over the years, on and off the water. He taught me much of what I know about fly fishing, and I have built on this foundation over the years. We continue to share ideas and learn together as fly fishermen. He is an integral part of the man I am today, and I cherish our relationship. We share the water a few days each year; these days remind me that fishing is so much more than catching fish.
Our wedding weekend was beautiful, memorable, and perfect. It couldn’t have gone any better for so many reasons. We even squeezed in a few mornings of fishing throughout the few days, and I experienced some of the most incredible fishing of the season. I caught my last few fish as a fiance and my first as a married man. I couldn’t have dreamed of a better wedding weekend.
While it is so much more, Kameron and I’s relationship is connected to fly fishing whether she likes it or not. Fly fishing is just one part of our relationship’s uniqueness and importance to me. I look forward to starting this chapter of our lives and for everything to come, on and off the water.
No matter what fish I come across in my life, Kameron will forever be my greatest catch.
1 thought on “My Greatest Catch”
Congrats my friend!!