In most every sport or for that matter the game of life there are categories that enable the participants to judge how much progress they have achieved in their field of endeavor. For instance in the game of billiards ( pool) the novice may start out with the game of 8 ball. Then advancing to 9 ball, with the ultimate goal being mastering the game from whence the sport gets its name billiards. In car racing a driver may start out on the dirt track circuit, then advance to Nascar, and ultimately ending on the grand prix circuit. In the job market many of us started out mowing lawns, delivery papers or sacking groceries. Then we might have worked our way through school waiting table at the local steak house or I-Hop, a fitting name for a fast food restaurant, especially for those of us who have had the privilege of working at one. Then we finally graduate and enter the rat race at our prospective starting lines, and have been running ever since!!! In fishing there is little difference. Most of us started out at the nearest pond. With a can of worms in one hand and a trusty Zebco in the other… And though the bait may have changed many still haven't risen to far up the ladder in the sport of fishing, or resort back to the old standby's.. Those with a little more salt in their veins have graduated to the next rung. Experiencing the fine art of lure loosing, either in the form of jigs, spoons, hard or soft plastics or any combination of the above.. But for the ultimate form of the sport of fishing, be it fresh or saltwater the real challenge is the fly. The sport of noblemen and the rich, of poets and paupers, of old men and older men…
In fact this form of fishing is such an art they even made a movie about it called a River Runs Through It. Which to many a dismay of the true lovers of the sport caused a mad dash to the nearest outdoor sporting goods establishments. Stocking up on all the fancy expensive gear a Land Rover could hold.. Which further enforces the fact why this form of fishing teaches more than just technique of catching fish. It is more a philosophy of man and nature blending together as one. Hopefully anyone who watched the movie got this message that they were trying to tell. In many ways it has a lot to with mine and I sure a lot of your lives. Like the characters I too was from a family with two sons. One was taking the quote-correct path of a good education, the other learning mostly from the school of hard knocks. One brother with nose to the grindstone, set off on making his name in the world. The other making a name " reputation" in the pool hall, drinking establishments, and at fraternizing.. While one brother was praised for his climbing the ladder on the road to success. The other brother was admired for his wit and skills and adaptiveness of making a good situation out of bad. Heck if it wasn't for all that fly fishing stuff always popping up throughout the movie, it could have been a biography of my early teen years…
Although I don't consider myself anywhere near the category of a true fly fishing expertise. In fact I'm still trying to get the dead bait smell out of interior of my truck from my last fishing outing.. I can appreciate the subtleties of the sport of fly-fishing. Not knowing a dry fly from a wet one, I guess once it hits the water?? And a tippet is a way of scoring in basketball when getting an offensive rebound.. But the technique of stripping line is a familiar one to this angler. Seems every other cast on a winding day I have a couple of hundred yards on the boat deck getting the backlash out of the reel… The only part of the sport that I may have trouble in mastering is actually spotting my quarry. I even have trouble spotting the Killer Whales at the Sea World tank, at least until that cold water hits you.. But from watching some of the quote experts on the cable stations this may not be entirely necessary. Watching Skip Pallete on the Walkers Cay Chronicles the only two other anglers more inept at spotting a tailing bonefish than him are me and Mr. Magoo.. If you notice he never fishing alone and very seldom does he start out poling once they reach the shallows. The untrained eye may think this is because he is the host of the show. But being the Walkers Cay junkie that I am the true reason is he is as blind as Ray Charles behind those dark Ray Bans… His guides are constantly giving him coordinates and distances, ten o'clock and 20 yards out. If Skip wasn't such an accomplished caster, I'm sure one of those guides would eventually get feed up with poling him around the flats and slap him upside the head with the push rod and yell ""Right in front of your nose, lucky we ain't hunting Rattlesnakes!!""
The only thing that may eventually draw me to the ultimate test for the art of sport fishing is the exotic locations. You'll also notice if you watch enough of those fly fishing shows on the tube, most are only accessible by plane, or hydro-plane boats. Mangrove filled shallows where the Tarpon are as thick midgets at a Charles Barkley autograph signing. Where Bonefish and Permit fight over your fly before it has a chance to become a wet one.. And offshore conditions are even more ridiculous, deciding whether to catch the sail or the marlin following your teaser as the deck hand reels in toward the boat.. Freshwater conditions for my money are a little on the dangerous side though.. Not that I don't like a nice trout or salmon steak on the grill every now and then.. Trying to land one in the net with a Grizzley playing tug of war with you on the other end is where I draw the line… So when I do finally decide to make the jump and take up this sport of poets. And do a little line dancing upon some seclude saltwater flat. I'll be easy to spot. I'll be the one with new pole in hand with it's line firmly attached to the nearest group of Mangroves.. With a freshly sharpened knife within reaching distance and lots of spools of fly fishing line in the tackle box. Although there is one fly fishing tip I can give you. When practicing your casting technique stay clear of the pesky power line. It play hell on those high dollar graphite pole and them new sneakers!!!!