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3. What keeps you Flyfishing?, Page 2

For me its the greatest escape from reality.

Since everyone else seems to be talking about how they got started...

I grew up on the NY/VT border, and went fishing with my Dad. Out of the four of us I was the only one who would go fishing with him. Dad did not fly fish, but he had an old (cheap) bamboo rod with a terrible set in the tip. Not sure why I wanted to fly fish, guess it was articles in magizines. Since I couldn't afford Orvis flies, and knew the flies in the hardware store were poor quality, I determined to tie my own. Cought my first fish on a fly I concocted with a jewler's vise, Mom's thread, yarn, and feathers from my pillow. While I was fumbling around (couldn't figure out how to do hackles) Dad told me to go see Mr. Mac (a neighbor). WOW!!! The old guy taught me all kinds of stuff, shared materials, hooks, and advise. The best advise was to go to the library, and tell the liberian I needed books That on fly fishing for trout. The next day I learned the dewey decimal system, and realized I could learn anything I wanted in the library. That knowledge has served me in every endever since. Took the books to Me Mac, and he told me what to read, and what to take back. That included TROUT, by Ray Bergman, of course. He also gave me his old HERTERS catalog. That became my "Wish Book." I was running a trap line then, and had a hunting license, so Mr. Mac got all of the fur and feathers available in the local woods. I'm sure he never used 10% of what I supplied him with, probably threw most of it out, but accepted it with the most gracious thanks. No, I didn't catch a lot of fish, dam few as I recall, but enjoyed myself none the less.
When I was 16 we moved to Boston, and I couldn't get to a trout stream. Then girls, drugs, cars, college, money, and rock and roll were more important. Dug the stuff out in my mid 20s but only cought chubs. Then the kids came, and the divorse, and then I was a single parent. When my son finally left home, I moved to a camper on a lake, and stayed for 5 years. Had to start from scratch, as my ex-wife sold all of my fishing stuff in a yard sale. For 2 years I worked part time, and fished full time. After 2 years my estranged daughter arrived with her daughter. Three yaars later she left (new boyfriend), without the daughter. This must seem long, but I'm leaving out a lot of gory details. I'm in an apartment now with the grandaughter (Arwen, 5 years) and Anne (she's retired Navy, with a vocabulary you wouldn't believe). During all of this I read every book I could find on on fly fishing. I'm probably the best read, and least experienced fly fisherman here.

To answer the origional question...

Of all of the fishing I have ever done, success in fly fishing for trout depends mainly on skill. Most other fishing is more luck than skill, besides...
"Its the most fun you can have standing up."

Didn't see this thread the first time it went around - great question.

For me the answer is easy - because it's really freaking hard. I suppose there are lots of other more romantic reasons, but that's the main one. When things get too easy, I make them harder on myself. But usually they're plenty hard enough already.

-Shawn

Solitude. Peace. Beauty. Getting out of cell phone range. A chance to make sense of the various aggravations of my work or personal life.

Catching a fish still ranks way down the list.

Aldo Leopold, in Sand County Almanac writes,

"What is a hobby anyway...at first blush, I am tempted to conclude that a satisfactory hobby must be in large degree useless, inefficient, laborious, or irrelevant. Certainly many of our most satisfying avocations today consist of making something by hand which machines can usually make more quickly and cheaply, and sometimes better.

A good hobby, in these times, is one that entails either making something or making the tools to make it with, and then using it to accomplish some needless thing."

I like Leopold's definition. After 30 years of tying flies, my creations are so far inferior to the ones tied by machines or those tiny ladies with their tiny fingers over in Thailand. But it's still fun.

I am also a lousy flyfisher. I caught exactly one trout this year. A rainbow on a #16 tan elk hair caddis. Just outside of Eugene OR on the Mackenzie. But I had fun each time I went this year.

Leopold was a flyfisher, and most likely a tyer as well, btw.

Very interesting thread fellows. I enjoy learning everyones experiences. I can relate to many and some of your stories transport me back.

I love trout and trout fishing. But do not hold this against me - this is what 'keeps' me fly fishing presently...

Thanks Brad. This helps to validate my autumn bass post. Great fish!!

Wow. That would keep me fishing, too.

-Shawn

Do you fellows notice, How was Brad able to post a picture on a old post, that he didn't start ?



JAD

Maybe the Troutnut makes exceptions for truly magnificent fish. Even if they aren't trout.

Speaking of magnificent fish, I caught a large rainbow this evening with perhaps the most stunning colors I've ever seen. It's sides and belly were deep, gun-metal gray with an almost greenish iridescence, and it had a deep crimson stripe almost 2 inches thick down its length. When I first hooked it, I thought it was a brown because of how dark it was, but I also realized the color was just not right for a big brown (no yellow at all), then I saw the stripe and thought it was a rainbow, and then I saw the dark sides and belly again and didn't know what to think until I got him in close. I found myself just staring at it and saying out loud over and over, "Wow, that is a magnificent fish!" I caught another nice rainbow just before that, and he had nowhere near the color of the larger one. I've also caught even bigger rainbows in the dead of winter without nearly that depth of color. It looked like someone had color-enhanced it in Photoshop. One of the few times I'd wished I'd lugged a camera with me to the stream. I wanted really badly to hold it in my hands for a minute, but I didn't really want to sink my hands into the stream today. Instead I unhooked it without touching it and it swam at my feet until I moved. Oh, and I caught it on a new fly I tied a few days ago.

And that keeps me fishing.

-Shawn