FLY FISHERS ALL

February 8, 2010

Not everything we do in life is connected to fly fishing. I can’t believe I said that, but we have chosen to be involved in a sport, hobby, avocation which does take on a life of its own. If you hang around this adventure long enough you find it gets to you, or, perhaps better said, it gets you.

We look at every piece of water we see or come in contact with differently than the ‘average’ non angler. Are there fish here? What kind? Hmmmm, can I catch them? With what? Are there hatches? 

How about driving down the road and a bug hits your windshield. Big bugs. Where is the closest water? What kinds of fish live here? Hmmmm, can I catch them? With what?

Sitting in a waiting room waiting for an appointment with the doctor and there are magazines, most of them are probably all five years old at least. What’s the picture on the cover? Hmmmm, where was that taken? I didn’t know they had brown trout like that there. I wonder what time of year that was taken.

You get an email from your fishing buddy with photos attached. Serious emotional and mental overload.

 

Logged on to your favorite web site. Noticed an announcement for a Fish-In. Hmmmm that’s not too far away, wonder if I can take the time off. Call fishing buddy. Give him grief about the photos. Want to go to a Fish-In? Where? What would it cost anyway? (You do know everyone is welcome at any Fish-In anywhere - well as long as you are a reader of FAOL - note I did not say a ‘member’ this isn’t a Private Club. It is your web site.)

Fly fishing is an adventure, all of it, and there is no real destination. It’s a journey. It’s learning, it’s seeing things in a different way. It is solving problems, solving mysteries, finding ways to float a fly in a difficult place, tying wings on a tiny fly, discovering which fly rod works best for you. It’s knowing you are in the right place at exactly the right time. It isn’t always, or maybe it isn’t ever, about catching fish. It is all the adjacent parts and pieces which make up being a fly fisher.

It’s putting names on things, no you don’t have to have the Latin name for every bug (but it doesn’t hurt) just knowing who/what they are makes it easier to discuss things with others. That goes for all the things we see around us when we are fishing. The birds, flowers, trees, little creatures living the subculture of a stream all are connected to our fishing world. We claim a connection to them by having a name for them.

It also is about values. If you are new to fly fishing you may not realize yet, but you will be making choices. Those choices will change as your involvement in this adventure increases. An evening spent by a campfire is more important that a dinner in a fancy restaurant. And so are the people you spend time with. Are fly fishers better people? I suppose it depends on who you ask, but for me, the answer is yes. These are friendships to last a life time.

I’ve already lived a lifetime and been fortunate enough to have traveled to and fished some rather neat places. Those places are real in my mind and memory because I’ve been there and what happens there now becomes important to me as well. We become stewards of our world, whether it is local or more extensive as preserving special rivers, watersheds or threatened fisheries. We’re more aware of those things because they are important in our lives and the lives of our friends. We may not become citizens of the world, but we can certainly have a huge influence through the choices we make in supporting those things important to us.

Having attended a few Fish-Ins in my life, I have to remark how delightful it is to see people who only know each other via the FAOL web site and to meet them in person for the first time. Here’s the neat part, once the initial shock passes, conversations immediately take off because everyone attending has the same frame of reference, the same interest, the same curiosity, and yes the same values.

We have built and are building memories. Lives with connections, a reach back to people, places, events and adventures which form the essence of who we are and what we become. Fly fishers all.

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