By Jack Ohman
Excerpt from Fear of Fly Fishing Thanks Jack!
THE TIP BREAKS OFF - It has been theorized that fly rods
act as dowsing sticks and have an inconvenient tendency to drive
themselves into the ground in search of something other than good
dry fly water. The remedy is to carry them reel first rather than
tip first.
THE END SECTION COMES OFF - This usually happens
when everyone is watching. Your're trying to execute a perfect
double-haul, and you have neglected to put the ferrules together
tightly, and as you bring the rod forward, it comes off at about
80 mph, heads into the water, and is never seen again.
THE ROD AS A WEAPON - It's easier than you think
to get whipped in the face - it doesn't tickle - by a buddy's rod while
you're walking through heavy brush. It's easier than you think
to get a rod tip in your mouth when you're walking down a
narrow path behind another guy with a fly rod who stops suddenly.
THE GUIDES FREEZE OVER - When this happens, you
should probably be indoors oiling your reel, but most fly fishermen
are monomaniacs and hence are out in extremely cold weather. Ice
in the guides is nature's way of telling you to go back to your car.
YOU BECOME A ROD COLLECTOR - This is an untreatable
mental illness, like Hummel figurine collecting. Generally speaking, it's
okay to have four or five rods, but some people have to have every
single one that is manufactured every year, or worse, several of the
same kind of rod. These people become fly-rod survivalists, hunkered
down in their bunkers with a 200-year supply of fly rods. ~ Jack Ohman