This Father’s Day, we sat down with Loon Outdoors’ Director of Marketing, guide, and dad, Hogan Brown, to talk about the connection between fly fishing and fatherhood. With wisdom shaped by decades on the water, guiding both clients and his two sons, Hogan shares the parallels between casting a fly and raising kids: patience, presence, and trust in the process.
Hogan Brown: I think for me the most important lesson I’ve learned from fly fishing that I find most valuable as a dad is patience. Patience with the fact that there are certain elements of raising kids that are completely out of your control, and that the best-laid plans may not produce the results you see in your mind or want. My boys are getting to the age (15 and 17) where I have to be patient and trust in the work that we did as parents early on and that in the end, maybe they will find their own path, and that a higher power already has that path laid out for them.Many times while guiding, the same mental battle goes on in my head as I have as a father. I know I have the right fly, my clients are fishing the right water well, the fish just aren’t eating. In my head, I hear a voice saying: “Abandon this plan. Put on a whole different fly, run five miles upriver, and fish completely different water.” Then usually, speaking slower and calmer, I hear another voice: “Calm down. They are here, and they will eat this fly. You’ve done this for over 20 years. Trust your experience.” And nine times out of ten, with persistence, patience, and confidence, it does work.Same thing with parenting. Everywhere I look, there is someone telling me with regard to everything from my boys’ school to sports to social life that they or we should be doing more, doing something different, doing better on this or that, or hitting some benchmark my boys haven’t reached. Those same two voices creep in. “We need to double down on AP courses. Scrap this club and jump ship to that one. Why don’t our kids have a 4.89 GPA? They only have a 4.0, how will they get into a good school? Wait, that kid already has a scholarship offer?” Then the slower, calmer voice comes in again: “Trust the process. Your boys are on their own journey. They are great kids doing better than you ever did. It will all work out the way it’s supposed to.”Patience and confidence in the process, and humbling yourself to the idea that you can only control so much
Hogan Brown: There was a point early on, when I started my boys fishing at ages five to seven, that I had a realization. If I wanted my boys to learn to fish and become anglers, I had to, to some degree, give up fishing on my own, because the recreational time I had to go fishing was now going to be spent taking them. If I wanted them to enjoy the day, it had to be all about them.I remembered my good friend John Sherman telling me that when he decided to get serious about photography, he had to leave his fly rods and fishing gear at home and just bring his camera. I always thought about that lesson and, very early on, stopped thinking of it as going fishing and bringing the boys, and started thinking of it as taking the boys fishing, meaning my sole focus was them.The result, 10 to 12 years later, is that while for many years I didn’t fish much because I was either guiding or taking the boys fishing, now I have two boys who are completely self-sufficient fly anglers. I can sit and run the boat while they both fish, or I can take one and we both fish together. I paid it forward by investing the time in them, and now I feel like I have fishing buddies for life who truly love fly fishing.
Hogan Brown: We started taking our boys out on the water before they could even walk. I wanted them to love and appreciate being outdoors first and foremost. I felt they needed to understand how special the place they were growing up in is, and see the natural world as part of their world, not just something they visited to fish or occasionally camp in.We would swim, throw rocks, make forts, and fish. Fishing was just another thing we did outdoors. Many times we would fish for as little as 20 to 30 minutes and swim for three hours. Or the boys might just say, “Dad, can we just have a swim day?” and I would always say absolutely. The goal wasn’t to build anglers initially. It was to create kids who loved and valued the outdoors and their local river. This way, as they got older, they’d be willing to protect it through conservation, voting, and whatever needs to be done in their lives to ensure wild places are there for their children.
Hogan Brown:
1. Just get them outdoors, and do it as early as possible.
2. Give up the idea that the day has anything to do with you. Leave your rod at home and make it all about them. Plan days that are fun for them and that result in them wanting to go again.
3. Invest early, and you’ll be amazed at what happens.
Hogan Brown: There’s no way I would ever claim that my kids love fishing as much as I do. That said, I also know there will never be a time in my life that my kids won’t go fishing with me, given enough planning. Yes, their lives have and will continue to get increasingly busy, and there are times when we don’t fish for a month or two together, when we used to fish every week. But the reality is, we will always share it and have memories of it throughout our lives, and we’ll always make time for it. I’m certain of that.
Hogan Brown: This is pretty simple to me. People invest in and support what they care about, and people care about what selfishly brings them joy or benefit. There are many things kids can do outside, but if they learn at an early age to enjoy being outdoors, whether it’s fishing, mountain biking, camping, skiing, or anything else that brings them happiness, they’ll protect it in the future.
Hogan Brown: The river has a lot to teach us if we’re willing to listen, especially when it comes to parenting. This Father’s Day, we’re grateful for dads like Hogan who remind us that it’s not just about catching fish. It’s about raising good humans who respect wild places and value time together. Happy Father’s Day from all of us at Loon Outdoors!
