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After years of watching fly fishermen and wondering
if joining their ranks would be worth my time, I broke
down a few weeks ago and bought a fly rod & set up.
After spending the next few days out in the yard
practicing casting I decided that I was ready to try
for the mighty blue gill in the local park lake.
Armed with a poorly tied mass production black fly of
questionable lineage, I made my way to the water's edge
and went for it. With the wind quartering from behind
me I began my presentation of the not so tasty looking
feathered lure. Again and again I deftly placed the
little thing beyond a downed, leg sized tree limb and
stripped it back along side.
Suddenly, without warning, the lure disappeared from
the surface in the midst of a swirl that had to be at
least the size of a Suzan B. Anthony dollar. I held
the fly line with my index and middle finger against
the rod and raised the tip. The fight was on! Stumbling
and thrashing around on the bank I pulled in the line
with my left hand looking, in my mind's eye, as if I
needed to be on an episode of Walker's Cay Chronicles.
After, what seemed to be at least three maybe four seconds,
I had the beast landed. It was the biggest, fattest, palm
sized blue gill you have ever seen. It didn't last very
long and there wasn't much to it, but it made a fly fisherman
for life out of me. Undaunted by the size of my first fish
by fly rod, I vowed to return, and thus ended my first fly
fishing trip. It was one to remember.
P.S. Nice website guys! I've gotten more information from
it in a week that I would have in a month watching fly
fishing shows that seem to be aimed at the elitists.
The articles for beginners and other information on
your site is very refreshing to this poor Texas Boy.
Sincerely,
Dane Fuller
beaudog38@yahoo.com
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