REAR VIEW MIRROR

As we get older, most tend to look inward and backward, asking what if? What if what, shoulda coulda woulda? Mistakes along the way are magnified into life changing events and over exaggerted into something they weren't!Things happen for a reason and while little stuff can become bigger issues, most self correct and overtime they become insignificant. 

 That's the greatest thing about fly fishing, you can change your fly constantly, because no fish seems to like them. But, once you get it and by it, I mean trusting the fly or anything else in life seems easier. For those who struggle, fishing isn't about catching and once you get it, it becomes easier. 

Accepting the future and not being adverse to change is another trait everyone should adopt. Climate change is here, accept it, we all will survive. Some species will not and that is based on their ability to move and adopt to a new range. Even trees have this ability, wait trees can move? Species migration is real, trees are extending thier northern range as their southern range becomes uninhabitable.

Really

 Living on a temporary pause and watching YouTube videos. Seems to me the folks fishing on these videos need some lessons on just about everything. Is Doug available ? Right handed casters with reels on wrong side, no line control, charging into a pool, GoPro hands everywhere, poor techniques and I am sure most fish released died shortly after. Not to mention flies, one is better than another. Trust your fly!

Do we need another video about types of flies and how one is better than another? Not sure, but I can see why. Taking up fly fishing for some is a right of passage, buying expensive gear a fashion statement, getting a GoPro makes everyone a film maker. Listen we all need to find our passion, no doubt as we age we need validation in our lives. Being something or someone for others to admire, self absorbed in our narcissistic self. 

So what's driving our personal dissatisfaction, can't we just be happy in our own selves. I found some self doubt awhile ago, considered my lack of accomplishments, not doing anything special and wallowed in a funk. Then I started to watch videos, found that some showed rivers and lakes I paddled and fished 50 years ago, trails I hiked, places I visited, trails I biked. Watching these fishing videos no matter how poorly they were made or the lack of skills they demonstrated that they were trying. Jumping on my bike as a kid to fish for bluegills in a NYC park (with my first fly rod) was pure. I too had my reel on backwards for maybe 40 years, my leader choices wrong for 30 years, the knots I used wrong for 20 years. I did learn and did become a better angler.

I recently read the book "The River Why". A story of a young man leaning to fish, fly fish and learn some valuable life lesson along the way. Good read written 30 years ago, but still germane to today's world. We are all travelers on a road, where that road leads we need to keep traveling. So Art is on pause for now, time spent to reawaken his spirit. Learning most of all life doesn't revolve around one thing. 

Hope

Yes, it's possible to hope for a better future. I see promise in the sly smile of a young child. Before the pressure and opinions of others taint that promise. This is a critical time in history for those who survived a pandemic and the isolation. Finding our institutions under attack, our air fouled, our waters a fedit mess. Denial of what is surrounding all of us. Hope in a childs eye!

We Are Doomed !

According to some scientist, the earth axis is shifting due to the extraction of ground water. Sounds odd at first, but correlations must be made to explain an event in the natural world. This is one I have to question, and further investigation is required before I start nailing everything down.

Think about it, most water is locked up in glaciers, oceans and deep lakes, while a small percentage is in ground water. Doesn't water naturally recycle, come on don't think that hard! You would think that all that oil that's pumped out of the ground and according to experts in the seventies should have ran out like last week, would have a similar effect. 

Before everyone loses their collective cool, global climate change and the heating of the atmosphere is real.  Droughts, torrential rains and wild weather swings are in our future and the past. So hold on and fasten your seat belt.

I remember reading a study a few years ago about the polar axis shifting. It turns out that this occurs every few hundreds of thousands of years. So the headlines written to catch our attention is just that a technique to read that story. Most scientific studies are usually peer reviewed for content and accuracy of the techniques to reach a conclusion. Some are theoretical in nature and others are flawed and disproven by additional studies. I could rain the 24 hour news cycle and the search for news, but that's for another day. In the meantime, conserve the waters. 

Tight lines,,

Art

How to Really Catch Trout and make it Look Easy

 It's not the fly, but the fisherman. A good fisherman observes before approaching and blindly casting. Subtle often minor events affects how a pool will fish. An inadventant shadow, a careless splash, too many false cast or too many fisherman working the pool beforehand are examples of how a fish may respond to your fly. The difference between a good fisherman and a great fisherman is a couple of split shots. Fish not rising, laying on the bottom? Look and observe, maybe just resting, maybe subtly feeding with only slight body motions. 

Nothing happening, move on try another location. After a couple of fly changes, varying presentations there is no need to pound the water for an hour. Only 10% of a river actually holds fish, so find another 10% place. Quietly moving and slow they dart out of unexpected places as you stumble over them. Only the stockies are bunched together for safety, the wild fish are survivors. 

My last couple of years fishing on that favorite stream, I only used four patterns that actually worked. The secret was to Trust Your Fly. Experimented  with many, but it came down to four. They're my four, you'll have find your own. Everyone eventually finds their four and they are always different. Again the secret is trust your fly. After all it's not the fly, but the fisherman!

Tight lines y'all! 

 

Life on the fly

By hook or by crook I will be back for trout season somewhere! Art lives and will not be denied!

 

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