For teenager, it's teaching on the fly

Ben Spector relishes summer break just like any other teenager.

But, last summer while his friends went to movies, parties or a buddy's house, Spector was pursuing a dream job.

His job site was covered with lush forested-mountains, renowned rivers and lakes filled with big trout, abundant wildlife, and a world-class fishing lodge just outside of Glacier National Park in Montana.

Spector, 16, who also plays a mean sax for the Garfield High School jazz band and is on the varsity wrestling team as a sophomore, e-mailed a job request to 20 fishing lodges in Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho and Montana two winters ago.

"I told them that I'd been fly-fishing for almost seven years and was interested in eventually becoming a doctor, but right now I'm hoping to learn more about how to be a guide so I could pay for college," he said.

By the ripe age of 3, Spector got his first taste of fishing when his father handed him a rod and reel while growing up in the Magnolia neighborhood.

When Spector was 9, he missed the registration deadline for Little League baseball by one day.

"I remember Ben was really depressed about missing out on Little League, and then his mom [Margaret] saw that they had a fly-casting class at Green Lake," recalled his father, Gary Spector.

That spring while his friends were taking in batting practice, Spector and his mom, who is also a member of the Northwest Women's Fly Fishing Club, signed up for the fly-casting lessons.

"I really got into fishing when I was 9 years old, and I just wanted more of a challenge," he said. "Something with a little more finesse. After those lessons, fly-fishing was kind of frustrating at first, until I got the hang of it."

Purchasing pre-tied flies was a little expensive for a budding fly-fisher, so Spector and his father got a fly-tying kit.

"Spector was about 11 when he started making his own flies," his father said. "Then Orvis hired him to tie flies, and he actually sold some to Orvis."

Soon after the e-mails went out last year, some of the fishing lodges responded and asked him to send a résumé.

But, it ultimately boiled down to Summit Station Lodge, 10 miles west of East Glacier, which was built in 1906 by the Great Northern Railway and is a historical landmark. Jorge Simental, the proprietor of the lodge, offered Spector an Orvis-sponsored internship and before he knew it, his father was driving him to Montana.

"There was a lot of grunt work to it," Spector said. "They had me clean up boats and showed me how to rig up boats. They had me shadow a lot, but I went with some horseback trips and I got to guide on the fishing portion of the trips toward the end of summer."

So how did the adult clients feel about being guided by a teenager?

"Sometimes people got a little edgy if they hadn't talked with me the night before a trip," Spector said. "But, they were just fine with it once they figured out I actually knew what I was talking about even though I was a kid.

"Some of them were more skeptical when I first got on the water. They were like, this is just a kid and I've probably been fishing longer than he has been alive," Spector said with a broad smile.

"Then when they started bringing in fish, after I told them where to cast and what to use, they got a little more trust in me."

A guide also needs an outgoing personality, and to be able to please any client whether or not they catch fish.

"When you are out on the water it is probably 75 percent entertainment and 25 percent fishing," Spector said. "So the main thing is you have to make conversation constantly. Find out what your clients are interested in, and just try to make them have a good time."

He was definitely an oddity, guiding when he was only 15.

"It is very unusual for a kid, especially with the distractions of youth nowadays," said Kris Kristoferson, a member of the Washington Fly Fishing Club and coordinator of the Seattle Youth Fly Fishers Club. "Fishing is a healthy activity, and for a young kid to get that involved is not common."

Kristoferson says the inception of the youth program began four years ago when three kids from Garfield approached the club about starting a fly fishing club at the school.

"We got them equipment, so I worked with them, and we ended up having a couple outings for trout, and we went to a beach to look for sea run cutthroats," Kristoferson said. "The program is open to high-school kids from ages 14 to 21 from anywhere around the area, not just Garfield."

Even with the allure of famous rivers such as the Two Medicine and its South Fork, and the Middle and North Fork Flathead, Spector has decided not to return this summer even though he had a lot of fun.

"This might be the last summer his older brother [Sam] will be around before possibly going off to school," his father said. "Spector just wants to spend some time with his brother, and was afraid that if he went away he wouldn't get that chance."

For now it is cramming for school exams, belting out tunes on the sax, getting together with friends, and maybe sneaking in a little fly casting time.

And looking beyond high school, Spector, who carries a 4.0 GPA, would prefer to keep his rod and waders hanging close to home.

"I want to guide or work in a fly shop to bring in some income, but I just want to find a school close to rivers, and a school that has a good pre-med program," he said.

Mark Yuasa: 206-464-8780 or myuasa@seattletimes.com