The Mayfly Project — Ben Dorger

Mariah, 9, holds her catch with mentor, Kenny Garcia at a trout pond on Saturday, July 14, 2018, in Smithfield on an outing with The Mayfly Project, a national non-profit that uses fly fishing to mentor foster care children. Mariah was adopted in 2011 by her foster care parents.

Verlicia Perez, lead mentor for The Utah Mayfly Project, teaches a foster care child how to tie a fly on his fly line at a trout pond on Saturday, July 14, 2018, in Smithfield. The Mayfly Project is a national non-profit that uses fly fishing to mentor foster care children. This was the first summer for the program in Utah.

Mariah, 9, hugs Verlicia Perez, lead mentor for The Utah Mayfly Project, after an outing at a trout pond on Saturday, July 14, 2018, in Smithfield. The Mayfly Project is a national non-profit that uses fly fishing to mentor foster care children. This was the first summer for The Mayfly Project in Utah.

Utah foster care children fly fish on a trout pond on Saturday, July 14, 2018, in Smithfield. The outing was one of several this summer that was part of The Mayfly Project, a national non-profit that uses fly fishing to mentor foster care children. This was the first summer for The Mayfly Project in Utah.

Verlicia Perez, lead mentor for The Utah Mayfly Project, points out details on a fly pattern to foster care children while fly fishing at a trout pond on Saturday, July 14, 2018, in Smithfield. The Mayfly Project is a national non-profit that uses fly fishing to mentor foster care children. This was the first summer for the program in Utah.

Utah foster care children net trout on a pond on Saturday, July 14, 2018, in Smithfield. The fly fishing outing was one of several this summer that was part of The Mayfly Project, a national non-profit that uses fly fishing to mentor foster care children. This was the first summer for The Mayfly Project in Utah.

Mariah, 9, pets a snake that was found in the grass by mentor, Dan Weber at a trout pond on Saturday, July 14, 2018, in Smithfield. This was one of several summer fly fishing outings with The Mayfly Project, a national non-profit that uses fly fishing to mentor foster care children.

SMITHFIELD — Just after dawn at a small pond in Smithfield, a few kids rig up their fishing poles. For most of them, this will be their first cast ever on a fly rod.

Adult mentors break the kids into small groups and teach the kids how to tie their fly onto the fishing line. Below the surface of the water, hundreds of rainbow trout swirl.

This is The Mayfly Project, a national non-profit that uses the sport of fly fishing to mentor foster care children. The program is in 14 states across the country, but this is the first summer its been brought to Utah.

Verlicia Perez is the lead mentor for the Utah program and is responsible for getting the program started this year. In 2016, Perez started a Mayfly Project in Idaho but after moving to Utah to be closer to her boyfriend and now mentor, Dan Weber, she realized there was a need here as well.

"Part of the reason I fly fish is for the peace and serenity it brings me," Perez says. "Things can be so hectic in foster care, hopefully this is something they can have when they fish."

With experience in social services, Perez has been working with the Utah Division of Child and Family Services, which has connected her with several foster care group homes. They ended up with 10 kids participating in the program this summer. Fundraising efforts have aloud them to outfit each child with a rod, reel and other fishing equipment which has been provided at a discounted rate from companies like Orvis and Temple Fork Outfitters.