Clear Your Head
By Chris Chin, Bay Comeau, Quebec, Canada
Fly fishing can be many things to many folks. The reasons
can vary from person to person and from moment to moment.
In today's world of deadlines, e-mail, Blackberries and
never ending projects, for me, time on the river with
friends and family is a time-out from the rat race.
There are a myriad of activities that one could do to "get
away from it all." So why fly fishing? Well for one reason,
as Betty likes to point out "Trout don't live in ugly places."
View upstream from the beach on the #43 on our home waters
The simple act of "being there" is quite enough for me to
relax. There is more though.
Fly fishing requires a smooth repetition of automated motions.
Even for a novice, after a few hours, the movements can become
ingrained in your muscle memory.
Whether one is upstream bombing with oversized dries, water
loading to a daisy chain of Tarpon or simply dapping a partridge
'n green in pocket water, the mechanics of getting the fly from
"here" to "there" become automatic.
For me,...when I'm fishing, I don't actually think about anything.
More so, if I concentrate on the cast, I'll usually rush the
movements. If I think about ANYTHING, I'll usually end up with
a fly stuck in the back of my hat.
Jed – Showing us how it's done. Somehow, I don't believe he
was thinking about the office!
The next time you're out on the water, you're there to relax,
but things just don't seem to be coming together. Maybe you're
just TRYING too hard.
Stop thinking about your cast. I like to look at the target and
just let the fly go there. I imagine the drift that I want and
the line will simply mend in the direction that it should. A
trick to stop concentrating so much on your cast, ...think about
the NEXT cast. The one you're on will roll out all by itself.
André on the 43. Looking to the far side back eddy.
Mostly,...just try to clear out your head. Time is precious.
Be it for a weekend or just a moment, you're there on the
water. The bills, the e-mail and the deadlines will have to
wait. (One of the reason's we like it here ...there is
no cellular phone service on river). ~ Christopher Chin - Bay Comeau, Quebec
About Chris:
Chris Chin is originally from Kamloops,
British Columbia. He has been fly fishing
on and off ever since he was 10 years old.
Chris became serious about the sport within
the last 10 years.
"I'm a forest engineer by day and part time
guide on the Ste-Marguerite River here in
central Quebec. I've been fishing this river
for about 10 years now and started guiding
about 5 years ago when the local guide's
association sort of stopped functioning."
Chris guides mostly for sea run brook trout
and about 30% of the time for Atlantic Salmon.
"I often don't even charge service fees, as
I'm more interested in promoting the river
than making cash. I like to get new comers
to realize that salmon fishing is REALLY for
anyone who cares to try it. Tradition around
here makes some of the old clan see Salmon
fishing as a sport for the rich. Today our
shore lunches are less on the cucumber sandwich
side and more toward chicken pot pie and Jack
Daniel's."
Chris is 42 years old as of this writing. He
is of Chinese origin although his parents were
born and raised in Jamaica. He has a girlfriend,
Renée. "She and her 12 year old son Vincent
started fly fishing with me in October 2002."
To learn more about the Ste-Marguerite River,
visit Christopher's
website https://pages.videotron.com/fcch/.
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