Somedays you catch fish. Sometimes you catch lots of fish. Other times you don't even get a hook up. When steelhead fishing, I never seem to get a hook up.
Sometimes the weather is perfect. When steelhead fishing lately, the weather sucks.
You can probably see where this is going...
This feast/famine mentality isn't in the experience itself but also in the crowd you surround yourself with on the water. Let's face it... great people and crappy folks alike share the water with you.
I've compiled a list of things to love and hate about fly fishing. Feel free to have fun with it and chime in.
Things to love:
1. Getting out and fishing... duh. It always beats a day in the office.
2. Catching fish... I'm not necessarily all about the "experience" factor. Sometimes a day on the nymph rod is in order!
3. Cutthroat... see number 2 for more explanation.
4. Tying flies. It's a great for passing down time on a rainy day and it saves money in the long run on your favorite/most common patterns.
5. Sharing the water with friends. There are few things better than good fishing friends. Share stories, talk sports, drink beer, and fish with someone.
6. Getting out and exploring new water. Enough said.
7. Embracing the history of the sport and holding that history close to your heart.
8. Teaching others the sport. While it can be frustrating teaching a beginner, it's also enjoyable to get them into fish. Remember your roots and that someone suffered when you were flailing away, losing flies to trees and brush left and right!
9. Montana. Duh.
10. A good pair of waders and comfort while fishing.
Things to dislike:
1. Not going fishing. Adverse water conditions, crap weather, and work can sure derail a fishing trip.
2. Not catching fish... duh.
3. Steelhead. They are opposite of Cutthroat as they are hard as heck to find and thus hard to catch. At least for me. They do qualify for the love category should you catch one.
4. Spending too dang much money for quality gear. I hate crappy equipment and I've made my share of mistakes over the past few years going cheap and regretting it immensely. That said, why must
5. Sharing the water with ass-hats. Whether they fish flies or gear, the plethora of rude people on the local waterways here astounds me. What ever happened to common courtesy? Beyond that, stereotyping folks on the water is a joke. Just because someone fishes bait doesn't automatically make them a terrible person. Likewise, just because I'm swinging a run doesn't mean that I'm an elitist who drives a BMW. Show respect to all anglers...
6. Lack of water access. Fishing is not a crime and the lack of access on the rivers around southwest Washington is disturbing to someone so used to trout fishing with great to excellent access. I guess it could be worse (England perhaps), but since moving home it has been frustrating.
7. Driving way too far for too little fishing and even worse catching.
8. Not having a boat... well, not having a river worthy boat is a better dislike topic. I do have a float tube and little lake boat but they aren't exactly river worthy. All in good time I suppose, all in good time.
9. Bat bites and falls down steep river banks. I'm apparently very susceptible to both and they really do suck.
10. Living so far from Montana.
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| Roscoe, the world's worst fishing dog also misses Montana... a lot. |
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