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Boy, how things change. I was reading the other
day about a guy who fly fishes and writes about
it; says he has color coded all of his stuff. Like
if he wants to go to Montana, he just grabs the gear
color-coded for out there. Or, the Bahamas, different
color. Well, 'La-dee-da!'
It ain't like that at my house. Once, a few years
back, living in Montana myself, I fished mostly the
same stream and took only what I needed when I hit
the water. These days, I have my gear scattered from
breakfast to Sunday. Every time I go someplace I have
dig all through everything, trying to remember what
it is I should take and where I stashed the last time
I used it.
A good case in point was this last weekend at the
Central Washington Fish-In. Should I take a net? I
usually don't use one, but will someone think I am
not doing things right if I don't net my fish? The
heck with them, I left the net at home, been hand
landing my trout for too many years to change now.
Flies? Swell, what ones would I need? I solved that
one easily; (I finally found) one small box of 16 and
18 PMD'S and BWO's. If they wouldn't eat those, they
could just starve. Actually, I planned on begging flies
from 'Linemender,' the word was he had tied up a bunch
of 'killers.'
Hippers or waders? Neither, rubber bottomed moccasins.
Warm jacket, rain jacket; which hats? Both. Two lawn
chairs and a small table, some grill's for the stove
to roast the oysters on and our offering for the pot-luck,
rolls and the smoke/lemon/butter for the oysters. Camera,
batteries, sunglasses.
How about fly rods. I could not go with just the ones
I would fish (Gatti 3wt's) with. I took a few of the
other rods we have for the gang to play with, brands
they may not have had a chance to cast at their local
fly shop. Not a problem, glad to do it and our sponsors
dig it too. Works all the way around. I don't sell
anything, just let them out to play, so to speak.
And that means I needed reels and lines for all that
stuff too. See what I mean, life is not easy anymore.
Tough job but someone's got to do it I guess, might
just as well be me.
You want the truth? I start about a week ahead of time
piling things on the couch in the livingroom, then keep
adding to the pile. As it always does, it worked out
fine. We dropped the dog off at the Vet's early Friday
morning and made it to the campground about mid-afternoon,
got back here tonight and we're back at work. The event
was a grand time and I am sure it will be one of many
held there.
We'll have photos up in next week's issue. Would have had
some for this issue but for some technical problems.
~ James Castwell
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