Fish Bums-

Those guys and gals that give up the normal trappings for a life as a guide. Not sure that qualifies them as being a "Hardcore Angler" or not. Sure, those folks into fishing enough to work as a guide, a clerk in a fly shop, and even building a rod here and there to make ends meet are really into the sport. Shop owners hardcore? Nope. Ask them if they ever get to fish. usually not enough. Fishing industry types are not hardcore.

I contend that there are really very few true Hardcore Anglers. I know only a few personally, and of a few more by association within groups of anglers.

So what is a Hardcore Angler? Well for one thing I am pretty sure they don't spend much, if any, time on angling bulletin boards. Nor does a hardcore angler work in a fly shop or does one guide for profit. They are fishing and traveling -period. The Hardcore Anglers that I know spend at leasty 200 days a year on the water. Sometimes much more. They both bounce back and forth chasing the bite; which can mean Florida, Costa Rica, Mexico The PNW Salmon Rivers, BC, or even the Ruby Marshes and Pyramid Lake or the Arctic.

One hardcore friend even had his dentist sharpen a couple of teeth to enable him to chew Maxima through instantly.

Both these Ultra anglers would not try to spoil their sport by making money from it. They don't write articles. They don't ask for advise, and their techniques are so finely honed that they never question the methods to use in any given situation. Their gear is fine tuned and specialized. Their personal belongigs revolve around the sport. They both have several fishing boats. Each is very opinionated and they won't buy what most " Fishing Guru's are selling in print, or at seminars, or on DVD. These hardcore Anglers avoid the fishing shows and crowded fisheries and are hard to get a hold of on the phone. They each truely are masters. Each has a prowess that is uncanny. They both catch monster fish and outfish those around them consistantly. They both tie very basic, simplistic, very specialized fly patterns that are not found online, nor in flyshop bins. They have their special tools and get the job done. They live to fish.

I find these characters, in general, fascinating. Do you know a "Hardcore Angler"?