Cat and I started writing this blog a little
less than two years ago and really had no idea which way we wanted to go with
it. For me it felt like a great way to show my incredible sense of humor (hehe)
and give some information as well. Cat on the other hand has wanted to be a
writer all her life. The first several months I remember checking the stats
almost daily to see how many hits we had had on our site. We got to a thousand
and we were ecstatic that that many people would read our stuff. I started
looking up other blogs to see how many hits they received and Cat and I said if
we got five thousand our blog would be a success. Well, as that number came and
long since went and we kind of lost focus on the numbers and just tried to be
informative and entertaining. I was looking at our stats this weekend and had
to take a double take when I saw that we had just gone over thirty thousand
hits. I was completely awestruck and totally humbled by how many incredible
readers we have; from the bottom of our hearts we truly thank you for making
this blog part of your entertainment.
Seeing those numbers began shooting all kinds
of emotions through my brain, they ranged from extreme vanity and back to
extreme humility. It got me thinking about the battle between the two emotions
I seem to fight all the time. I was reading an article several years back from
one of the most prominent fly fishing Guru’s in Colorado and he said that there
was “no luck in fly fishing.” I loved that quote and with chest stuck out I have
repeated it many times over the years. My
wife even bolsters my ego by saying that I could probably catch fish out of
our hot tub. That’s right, it’s all me and no luck whatsoever. Well the last
several months have started to sway my ideas on the whole luck thing. Our
yearly Taylor trip over July 4th usually seems to produce four or
five feeding fish per day, but this year’s fall trip produced fifteen to twenty
fish takes a day. Was I that much better, or perhaps was there just more
hatches and active fish? This fall has been very interesting, one day I had a
total beginner client hooking thirty or so fish by himself and the very next
day, myself and three other experience anglers hooked thirty between us. Was he
that much better, or were the conditions merely different? The longer I stay in the professional
flyfishing world the more I seem to battle with the intersection between
humility and vanity. A few weeks back I had a client in the Money Hole and I
had a few guys walk by me and tell me how great the hole that we were fishing was.
I said thanks for the tip and had to scratch my head, “didn’t he know who I was? Was my Orange hat and expert guiding skills
not a clear indication that he was talking to The Connell O’Grady?” The second this thought went through my head
I just had to laugh. One time I had a guy stop me and explain that only blue
egg patterns working on the Ark, and again my vanity crossed paths with my
humility. One of the stranger accounts happened when I was fishing about thirty
feet below a red and a fly fisherman stopped me and told me there was a bunch
of fish just up from me on a light colored patch of sand. Disgusted the vanity
struck again “Do you people not know who I am, I am Cat’s husband and the
fishing partner of Winston, I know what I am doing and don’t need advice I didn’t
ask for.” Then like getting hit in the
face with a wooly bugger, humility sets in and I gain control of the ego.
Reflecting on these moments also gets me
thinking about how many times over the years I have given people advice, people
who know far more than me, and it makes me a feel a little sheepish. Well I am
sure this will be a battle that rages on inside of me for the rest of my life,
so I have put together a few thoughts that I am going to try to think of before
fishing, in an attempt to keep my mind in the correct sphere. The first is that
my battle should always be between me and the fish, it doesn’t matter what Fred
or Joe did yesterday or even an hour ago. Second, this incredible sport that
God made possible for us and it needs to be enjoyed in its entirety. From the
sounds, smells, and epic battles, enjoy it all. And last, conditions are always
changing. From bug selection, water quality, and flows, plus hundreds of others
it is important to …Just Fish!!!
As I said before, Cat and I are truly humbled
and thankful for so many readers over the last few years and we hope we can be
as entertaining for the next thirty thousand hits. I know it has been years
since I have told anyone good luck fishing (because of the article), so I think
I will start a new a say it to each fisherman heading to the river.
May the bugs be in your favor and the wind
always at your back, enjoy it all….
Today’s
fishing journey was a testament to these words.
We had been pounding the upper sections so hard for the last few months
that Cat and I decided a change was needed.
So leaving the house at about noon we headed for Reservoir Drive, below
City Park. The clarity was still low at
only 10 or so inches but the water was green not brown. Within an hour of our arrival a BWO hatch
filled the air with a good mix of PMD’s and Trico’s joining the party as
well. Fish were hesitant to rise but a
few brave souls hit the top with exuberance.
This prompted me to put on an Adams which was greedily slurped. The rest of the day the fish fed hard
subsurface. It was a numbers day and Cat
and I both lost track of how many fish we hooked and landed. There was no pigs hooked on this trip, which
was unexpected but with the numbers we couldn’t bring ourselves to complain
about it. The hot flies for the day were
the Bling Midge and a Purple JuJu.
Thanks for reading! Connell, Cat, and Winston.
Always a fun read.
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