A Metaphor

When we cast our fly line, we first accelerate our fly rod backwards, then pause, before briskly moving it forward, only to pause again to let the line straighten out before repeating the process.  The goal is that we want to maintain a rhythm that keeps the line airborne within a vertical plane.  The more line you have in the air, the longer you must pause before resuming movement.  Life is like that, and lately, I have had a lot of line in the air.  Thus the recent long pause.

From early August until early November, I went through the longest non-fishing period in my life since I was a little kid - three months without casting a rod.  The last time that happened had to be over 40 years ago.  When I got back from Montana in early August, all of our local rivers were low and too warm to fish for trout.  Since that time, we have been in a drought situation with the rivers at record low flows, and that combined with a busy work and personal schedule kept me off the water.  

Since then I have fished several times on local waters, and I've been fortunate to have come across rising fish.  My son has fished quite a bit, too, and he has had a few very good days fishing nymphs. All of my fish have come on the Simple Snowshoe Emerger.  With the low, clear but very cool water conditions I've had to employ a long leader and 6X tippet.  The trick is to find rising fish while still on the bank, and then you find the best entry point and very, very slowly make your way to your position before literally planting your feet and not moving them or your legs to allow any wake you made to subside.  When you cast, make every effort not to move your lower body - you'll be amazed at how quickly these skittish fish will go down with too much movement (or a sloppy cast).

In other news, I still haven't fished with a Mop fly.  We participated in the International Fly Tying Symposium the weekend before Thanksgiving. There I did a few seminars and I tied with Tim Flagler, and to my left was John Collins of the electric fly design.  See photo below of one of his wet flies.  My new grandson, Bryson, is doing great, and so is his older brother Henley.  I'll post some photos soon.

Despite working quite a bit, I have been tying regularly, which is always good for the soul.  It's been an almost daily activity since I was about 10 years old, some 48 years, and I still love the whole process of tying and imitating fish foods.

In fact, I'm going to sign off now and head over to Tim's to do another tying video.   Look for it in a week or two.

Happy Holidays to you and your family.