By Gary Lewis / The Bulletin

When my nephew graduated from high school last summer, I took the time to find a present worthy of the new start that his achievement warranted.

It was Gabe Parr, of the Deschutes Chapter of Trout Unlimited, that helped me locate the right gift. “Hey Gary,” he said, “I’ve got a Redington travel combo that I’d like to see in the hands of a boy or girl that could use it.” For a donation, the combo changed hands. The next week, I presented it to a 19-year-old who has always liked to fish.

“Fly-fishing changed my life,” I told him. “And it can change yours, if you want it to.”

I don’t think he understood what I meant.

In 1980, my principal source of income came from cutting grass. When I had $32 saved up, I went down to the creek and sat down on the bank to consider how to spend it. A white miller moth touched down on the surface of the pond. A trout elevated in the dark water and plucked the moth off the surface. That was the moment I decided to buy a fly rod and become a fly-fisherman.

In that spirit, when Hutch Hutchinson, of Orvis, and Lee Ann Ross gave me a couple of travel combos, I put them into the hands of two young men — Sam and Nolan — whose dad would have loved to see them become fly-fishermen.

After an initial lesson at the Orvis Casting Course in Bend, they took their newfound skills to the water. Through the grapevine, the reports filtered back.

Nolan went out and caught a fish. Sam caught his nose.

“It was pretty painful,” Sam said. “There were a lot of bushes and it was windy and I got tangled up and something touched my nose and I pulled harder and it kind of snapped my head back.”

Wrapped around the bushes, a No. 12 black gnat buried in his beak, Sam clipped the line and walked back to the cabin. His mom had to push the hook all the way through the skin, crimp down the barb and back it out.

Sam thinks barbless hooks are a good idea.

A couple of years ago, I took an old rod that had a broken tip and repaired it and sent it on to a young man named Jesse, with no instruction to go with it, other than a heartfelt “Good luck.” Since then he has become an accomplished fisherman on his home water, Tumalo Creek, drifting dries for 8-inch trophy brooks and rainbows.

Last week, the 14-year-old Jesse wheedled his dad into a trip with the fly rod to Elk Lake where he tempted a 13-inch brook trout to commit to a tan woolly bugger.

Jesse, Nolan and Sam are hooked on fly-fishing, Sam especially.

There’s a good chance that, in your rod rack, an old trout rod reclines. If you haven’t used it in five years, maybe that experienced fiberglass or graphite stick ought to find a new home. Somewhere in your circle of friends and relatives, there is a young man or a woman — someone like Jesse, Nolan or Sam — that could put that fly rod to better use.

For neophyte fly-rodders of all ages, one of the best ways to get started is to join a group. The Central Oregon Flyfishers allows new members under the age of 25 to join for free. Otherwise, the annual membership fee is $36. Visit www.coflyfishers.org for details.

A note came in the mail the other day. It was from my nephew. “I now know what you meant,” he wrote, “when you said that fly-fishing could change my life. Now my dad wants to take up fly-fishing, too. He says we can do it together.”

Gary Lewis is the host of “High Desert Outdoorsman” and author of “John Nosler — Going Ballistic,” “Black Bear Hunting,” “Hunting Oregon” and other titles. Contact Lewis at www.GaryLewisOutdoors.com.