Some things never change
It has been 37 years
since I first started to use a fly rod, that was at age 12 in 1976. Prior to that
I use either a spinning or spincasting rod with a clear bubble and fly to catch
trout. Most of the early years of my fly fishing were spent on small streams
with a Diawa – Dianna fiber glass rod 8’ 6wt with a Pflueger 1494 1/2 reel on
it. I fished mostly wets and streamers with the occasional dry fly for the
elusive top feeders. Well 37 years later I have a closet full of equipment, including
a couple of outfits worth more than my first car, a used Volkswagen rabbit. My
fly choices have become more sophisticated and I do tend to catch far more
fish but I can tell you I enjoyed it just as much then as I do now. Lately I have been noticing how much things have changed in fly fishing
but how much they stay the same. A couple of things that have spurred this on
were a couple of fishing buddies passing along reading material to me . One in the form
of 12 PDF digital books that date as far back as 1854 and the other some old Fly
Fisherman Magazines from 1977-79. These old magazines really drove the point home
as to how commercialized the sport of fly fishing had become. This is not nearly
a bad thing, as I believe that we have far better equipment –rod, reels, lines
along with a better understanding of trout and their food. Also far more
species are being caught with fly rods in both salt and fresh water. One of the
funniest things that has not changed, E.M Tod writes about it in his book wet
fly fishing published in Scotland in 1884, is the debate over dry fly fishing as
being more sporting / more “fly fishing” than fishing with a sunk fly. That
same sentiment is echoed in another old book I recently read by Charles Z
Southard published in 1914 the debate by this time had made it to the shores of the
United States. Both men adopted pretty much the same attitude towards fly fishing as I have, remain flexible and let the Trout tell you what fly to
fish don't try to " force feed them a pattern you want to fish". One last piece about this Mr. Tod writes something very funny in one
chapter about using both a dry fly and wet fly at the same time, with the wet
being a dropper off of the dry fly. I thought that was something new guess not.
He follows that up in the same chapter and I will paraphrase” tis better to go
the river with both wet and dry flies then decide to which to fish than to
preclude one for not being actual “ fly fishing” . A man of the latter thought mine as well fish
after being poked in the eye with a sharp stick”as he will be just as effective. That made laugh out loud when
I read it.
It amazes me all of the
equipment changes that have taken place in a just 37 years seeing that bamboo
and green heart were used pretty much exclusively for well over a hundred years
each then to see one material come into favor fall out and then begin a revival in just those 37 years is
amazing. Fiberglass rods ruled the day from the mid 60's until about 1980-81 when
companies started to build much better graphite models. Now they have started
to make a comeback with many custom and a bunch of production models on the market
today. One surprising thing I read about is that the whole Boron/graphite mix
is not new .A couple of rod copanies were doing that in 1979 but it was not very successful so they abandoned
the idea until a few years ago when Winston and Orvis brought out models with
mixes. Speaking of Orvis & Winston they are a couple of the big names along with
Scientific Anglers, Hardy, Thomas & Thomas and Cortland that have lasted. With
new comers Powell and Scott Power ply just coming on the scene. Most of the ads in those pages were for
companies that are either gone or no longer make fly fishing equipment,.Berkley
not only had several fly lines but a line of fly rod and reels under the specialist
label. Lew Childre one of the big bass rod companies had a line of “ speed stick”
fly rods. H.L. Leonard was still producing Bamboo rods out of their Central
Valley, NY location and had just become a member of the S.E. Johnson (wax)
company. Having worked in fly and tackle shops for almost 20 years on an off it is kind of sweet to see some shops that
have survived far longer than most. Dan Baileys, Bud Lilly’s, Kaufmann’s fly shops out west. Housatonic Meadows and Sportsmen’s
Den here at home. There were more fly shops listed for Connecticut and New York
than for either Montana or Colorado in an add for Cortland fly lines.
Catch and release was a hot
topic ,with some modern devotees who were outspoken against it, "as wasting a
precious resource by tossing half dead trout back into the river". Water clean
ups were just getting started, dam removal was an unheard of thing and conservationists
were just then pushing for fish ladders on dams. I guess fly fishing has gotten
much better due in large part the early conservationist movement started in the
70’s has lead to most of our trout water being much cleaner. Unlike today where talk of less stocking with better management of
habitat for wild fish they spoke of increased stocking to further opportunities
for all anglers. One kind of disturbing thing that I picked up was a bit of
high minded elitism that many of the writers of the day had. One article I read
made a point of that if you were fishing either up or down stream if a spin
fisherman is encountered they should always yield to you as you were the more
sporting gentlemen. I guess some things take longer to change than others as
this attitude persists to a small point today. I feel, to each his own! Another
thing that reading this older material has done is renew my love affair with
wet fly fishing. After reading a couple of old books on it and reading an article
by Lee Wulf about it back in April I spent a day swinging a Quill Gordon wet
and just banging the crap out of the trout over a three day stretch. So I guess
the more fly fishing changes it comes back around again.
