As time goes by

Monday night JT, Stan, Lou and I all headed up to the Ludlow Elks for the 3^rd year in a row to set up a display for the shop at the Western Mass fly fishermen’s club expo. It is a great club that main purpose is to give back and get Kids and adults into fly fishing and tying. I was at their January meeting, going over what program I was going to put on at the expo, they announced they had about 56 people in the fly tying class they were putting on. That is incredible to say the least. The club dues are all put back into materials and items for the tying classes. They are a great bunch!

            I did my talk on two of my favorite things; I did a short presentation on “locating and best tactics for small stream fishing” and a much broader presentation on   “nymph fishing”. Any of you who have fished with me know that I LIKE nymph fishing. Some people look down on it and I feel sorry for them. It is not the only way to fish by no means but it beats waiting for a hatch. Over the last 35+ years of fly fishing I have one philosophy when it comes to both guiding and my personal fishing “ be flexible” I will almost never go to the river planning on fishing just this way or that. I will always sit and watch the fish for a time and let them tell me how to fish. It has made me successful over the years so I try to help others see it works. I have been reading digital copy of C.M Todd’s “ fishing the wet fly” this book was published back in 1903 and even though it is about wet fly fishing he makes the comment that and fly fishermen to be a success has to be able to fish both on top and under the surface.  Well I guess there really is not all that much new in this sport. I had thought that a dry and dropper was a relatively new thing, nope he talks about fishing a dry and a wet fly in slightly faster water. I am starting to believe that truly only thing that has changed is what the equipment is made out of.

                Think I have reached the stage were just getting out and getting of decent fish is more important that counting. I have kept a fishing journal since 1983 and use them to look back at weather, water and fish patterns. I have noticed that from about 1990 until about 4 years ago I kept very detailed counts of the species with species, length, pattern and location for all of my fishing trips. These last 4 years I find I listed only that I caught a few in the spot or that spot with the occasional note on a larger fish with location and pattern. It could be maturity or just laziness I am not sure. I still keep details of the weather, water and how I fished but not the numbers. I have also noticed I have started to fish slower in the last couple of years and that is a good thing. I think sometimes I would move thru a pool or run way too fast and actually miss some fish. As time goes by we all mature and age some like a fine wine others mellow like a good single malt in the end we all enjoy this great sport our own way.

 

steve