K
katghoti
Guest
After lurking a while and reading in between the fights and flame
wars, searching other sites and my experience I have come to realize a
few things about us fly fishermen:
1. No one is happy. If there is someone else on the stream he is
either a pimped up, bank thumping, noisy SOB that keeps Orvis in
business. He talks to loud, knows to much or doesn't have respect for
the environment, etc. I read stories about people fishing to hear
them pass judgement on the groups of people heading out to fish,
sucking expensive cigars, laughing, tromping, getting the author in
knots. Or they are old school, to dumb to keep up, to ornery to share
anything, go back to the stone ages, graphite hating, new fangled
everything ruining the sport, shut up and get of my lawn types.
2. No one fishes as good as me. I love these guys, they have the "in"
to every stream and catch 30" trout out of high mountain streams. Or
they catch 150 fish in three hours. I watch the videos, I see the
reports. I have had good days, but I have also been skunked. I love
to listen to them belittle people asking for advice. "Shit what's
your problem. Leave me alone if you can't do it, why should I talk to
you." Nice going guys alienate more people and help enforce our
sterotype.
3. Fly fishing brings us closer to nature. Those bait chuckers just
don't understand our "oneness" with nature. Hell we aren't making
love to the fish or nature, there is nothing more magical about fly
fishing than bait fishing. But to make it this transendental
experience, to raise ourselves above others because we fly fish? Shit,
how narcissistic. Sure a lot of good comes from Trout Unlimited, and
other fly fishing organizations, but we aren't the only ones. People
pay a license which goes to help fishing, taxes from their bait,
hooks, sinkers, lures, etc go to help as well. We don't have the
monopoly on helping the environment.
4. GASP, someone kept a fish and ate it. Holy Shit, lets flog them
with our fly rods. This catch and release ethic is way out of hand.
Sure, I let the majority of mine go, but not all of them. I like the
taste of wild trout and will continue to eat them. The local wildlife
agencies around here are begging people to take trout because they are
stunted. Yet time and time again, I run into another fly fisherman
who looks at me like I have lobsters crawling out of my ears and
sticks his nose in the air if I have a couple of trout in my creel.
Hell, for that matter does anyone still know what a creel is?
What's my point? Well, I guess you can say we are a strange lot.
Everything that is not us makes is inferior. Everyone should practice
fly fishing and catch and release, or they are monsters. I enjoy the
sport of fishing (I switched to fly fishing only about 10 years ago).
But have I had this bonding with nature in an intimate level that only
we can understand? Nope haven't seen much of a difference. I do care
for my streams, I do sit on the bank and enjoy the scenery, but I did
before as well.
There is nothing majical or cult like about fly fishing (there
shouldn't be anyway). Sure there is more involved then baiting a worm
and letting nature do the work. I can't tie a worm, and I do get a
lot of satisfaction catching fish on my own tied flies. But we really
look foolish sometimes arguing about nymphing, or dry fly only, or
about bamboo versus graphite versus glass. Upset about the Orvis clad
brigade. Just fish people. Take someone and enjoy the time, or go by
yourself and reflect, but just fish. If you don't want to be friendly
on the stream, just acknowlege a fellow fisherman and move on, don't
snub them, don't belittle them, don't be rude to them. If someone
stomps in to your "honey" hole, hey it's not yours alone. Move on.
If it is that good, there will be fish again. What's better, help out
those just starting on this long exciting journey, offer adivce,
classic killer patterns, or good old stories. We are all in this
together.
katghoti
wars, searching other sites and my experience I have come to realize a
few things about us fly fishermen:
1. No one is happy. If there is someone else on the stream he is
either a pimped up, bank thumping, noisy SOB that keeps Orvis in
business. He talks to loud, knows to much or doesn't have respect for
the environment, etc. I read stories about people fishing to hear
them pass judgement on the groups of people heading out to fish,
sucking expensive cigars, laughing, tromping, getting the author in
knots. Or they are old school, to dumb to keep up, to ornery to share
anything, go back to the stone ages, graphite hating, new fangled
everything ruining the sport, shut up and get of my lawn types.
2. No one fishes as good as me. I love these guys, they have the "in"
to every stream and catch 30" trout out of high mountain streams. Or
they catch 150 fish in three hours. I watch the videos, I see the
reports. I have had good days, but I have also been skunked. I love
to listen to them belittle people asking for advice. "Shit what's
your problem. Leave me alone if you can't do it, why should I talk to
you." Nice going guys alienate more people and help enforce our
sterotype.
3. Fly fishing brings us closer to nature. Those bait chuckers just
don't understand our "oneness" with nature. Hell we aren't making
love to the fish or nature, there is nothing more magical about fly
fishing than bait fishing. But to make it this transendental
experience, to raise ourselves above others because we fly fish? Shit,
how narcissistic. Sure a lot of good comes from Trout Unlimited, and
other fly fishing organizations, but we aren't the only ones. People
pay a license which goes to help fishing, taxes from their bait,
hooks, sinkers, lures, etc go to help as well. We don't have the
monopoly on helping the environment.
4. GASP, someone kept a fish and ate it. Holy Shit, lets flog them
with our fly rods. This catch and release ethic is way out of hand.
Sure, I let the majority of mine go, but not all of them. I like the
taste of wild trout and will continue to eat them. The local wildlife
agencies around here are begging people to take trout because they are
stunted. Yet time and time again, I run into another fly fisherman
who looks at me like I have lobsters crawling out of my ears and
sticks his nose in the air if I have a couple of trout in my creel.
Hell, for that matter does anyone still know what a creel is?
What's my point? Well, I guess you can say we are a strange lot.
Everything that is not us makes is inferior. Everyone should practice
fly fishing and catch and release, or they are monsters. I enjoy the
sport of fishing (I switched to fly fishing only about 10 years ago).
But have I had this bonding with nature in an intimate level that only
we can understand? Nope haven't seen much of a difference. I do care
for my streams, I do sit on the bank and enjoy the scenery, but I did
before as well.
There is nothing majical or cult like about fly fishing (there
shouldn't be anyway). Sure there is more involved then baiting a worm
and letting nature do the work. I can't tie a worm, and I do get a
lot of satisfaction catching fish on my own tied flies. But we really
look foolish sometimes arguing about nymphing, or dry fly only, or
about bamboo versus graphite versus glass. Upset about the Orvis clad
brigade. Just fish people. Take someone and enjoy the time, or go by
yourself and reflect, but just fish. If you don't want to be friendly
on the stream, just acknowlege a fellow fisherman and move on, don't
snub them, don't belittle them, don't be rude to them. If someone
stomps in to your "honey" hole, hey it's not yours alone. Move on.
If it is that good, there will be fish again. What's better, help out
those just starting on this long exciting journey, offer adivce,
classic killer patterns, or good old stories. We are all in this
together.
katghoti
