Fly Fishers are a strange bunch

We will travel long distances, spend an enormous amount of time and money just to catch a fish…and then let it go!

We prefer to walk and wade or ride in a small boat without a motor. It’s about standing in, or rowing down, a river and letting the water wash away all the stress and worries.

They say that fly fishing and golf are very similar because they can both be extremely difficult and have completely different outcomes from one day to the next. We are gluttons for rejection and punishment. The ultimate goal is a 22 inch fish on a size #22 hook on 7X tippet using a bamboo rod. We like to make it very difficult! The more difficult the better!

‘Competitive fishing’ is an oxymoron to fly fishermen. We find the one piece jumpsuits with all the sponsor patches quite garish and boastful. Tacky. I tell my clients that “counting is for rookies and we stop counting after 1.”

Women are naturally better at fly fishing than men. It’s a finesse sport. The male ego and muscle are your worst nightmare when you’re teaching and guiding.

My favorite client is a woman who has never done it before! My worst client is her husband who has been to Alaska so he “knows what he’s doing". He says “you just take care of my little lady there and I’ll be just fine”. Translation? I will be spending ALL day with him retying his snarled rigs while she’s landing fish after fish. And the more fish she catches, the worse he gets.

Fly Fishing peeps are quite snotty. We like to change the name of everything so it sounds more sophisticated and unique to our sport. We call a bobber an indicator. It’s a rod not a pole.