Some of my co-workers are fly anglers. Chats between us at the water cooler can cause strange looks or worse...

I was talking with one of my angling co-workers. There was a group of 3-4 people standing next to us with their own conversation. I was recounting a certain fishing expedition on Cummins Flats in '08. I said something to the effect that I loved standing in the middle of a blue wing olive hatch taking one maniac rainbow after another. The other conversation ended abruptly and I got stared at. I can't help but wonder what was going through their minds. "Cocktail olives flying out of martinis on blue wings?" "Maniac rainbows?" "Some kinda pill?" "We never had Ed down as that sort of person."

But alas, it gets worse (better?)...

Last month I was talking to the same guy by the same water cooler...

It was a Monday. My friend has a pond. I asked him if he had gotten out and caught any fish. He had. He asked if I had gotten out.
As it turns out, I hadn't. I HAD managed to tye/tie some flies. Included was a new pattern of my own to match some local mayfly nymphs. (Y'all can see this one heading downhill fast, can't you?) I tyed them with black bead-chain eyes. Not having a name for them, I call them "beady-eyed nymphs". This is all quite true...
So I replied to my friend, "No, but I tyed up some beady-eyed nymphs on Saturday." My friend snickered. I follow his gaze, turning around. One of the older, more highly ranked, and most severe of the females in the place had just walked up behind me. I very nearly ended up explaining myself to the HR department.

Now my reputation is in tatters. People think that I am a pill-popping drunkard and sex maniac. Actually, I'm a fly angler...


Ed