MEMORIES?

July 5, 2010

The Fourth of July week and this is the time when everyone realizes its summer. Finally! We probably all have some terrific memories about the 4th; it’s traditionally been a great family time in America. Anywhere you look here in town it’s family, grocery carts piles high and stuffed with goodies you probably won’t buy again until next 4th of July. On top of that its rodeo time here and I’m amazed at the number and high quality of the rigs the cowboys have these days to do the circuit. Trailers with stalls for 4 to 6 horses and living space for the family, hay storage on top and a built-in tank for watering the horses, and the one we saw last night on our walk to the river was pulled by a big crew cab diesel. One would have to be a very winning cowboy to afford a rig like that.

We too have family here, Trav’s daughter Barbara and her husband Gerry are here from Texas for a nice holiday and nephew Tom stopped by to offer to take Gerry fishing on the spring creek Saturday. Gerry is a beginning fly fisher and of course he jumped at the offer. We have enough gear to outfit him of course (and if we didn’t Tom could) so he will be all set to go off Saturday.

All that got me to thinking, you might remember the first times you went fishing (any fishing, not just fly fishing) and recall catching fish - small fish - and thinking it was great. It was really great! And isn’t it a shame that so many anglers as their skills advance forget the absolute fun of those early days.

Long before I went fishing with my grandfather and pestered him to teach me to fly fish I already was a fisherman. I went perch fishing with my mom and dad on the break wall which runs out in Lake Michigan to the lighthouse at Ludington, Michigan. We had a bucket of minnows and bait rods. I caught fish! Sure small fish, but I don’t think my dad threw any back (at least while I was watching.) I must have been seven years old. I remember it well.

I also remember after gramps taught me to cast the fly rod it took quite a while before I caught a trout. And it wasn’t all that big either, but I hung in there and eventually was able to do better.

I learned to tie flies and still have the first fly I tied which caught a fish. I bought some of that plastic resin stuff and put the fly a couple small stones and a piece of fake weed in a little square form that came with the resin. It cracked because the stones were a different temperate when I made it, but the point is I STILL have it. What’s that all about?

It’s about creating and remembering memories. It’s remembering that fly fishing is a recreation.

Take a minute and look at the word recreation. It means to re-create yourself, to renew one’s self. Just how long has it been since you considered your fly fishing as fun? Yes I know it’s a challenge, but it works out so much better if you let it be the fun it really is.

Do a little memory search, see if you can remember the first fish you caught - and where, and on what? Let’s start a string over on the Bulletin Board, tell us how old you were, what you caught and where you caught it. Have some fun with it too.

A little kick-start on the memory bank, we’ll have fun yet.

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