It Now All Makes Sense....

Hello all, and thanks for checking in at the O’Grady Flyfishing Adventures. As our readers have probably figured out over the years, my brain seems to always be in overdrive and usually somewhere way off the main road. I got to spend Sunday on the river with my incredible wife and dog, and like most time on the water my brain ran wild. When we first got to the river we had something happen that thrust me back to my grade school days and finally my learning became complete.

 As I have aged, many times over the years,I would all of a sudden be brought back to my youth and be glad that I learned a particular skill. As a youngster I remember thinking how dumb algebra was and that I would never use it in the real world. Today I know that the people who learned it are making $20 an hour and the ones that didn’t are trying to raise the minimum wage so they can make $15 an hour. It now all makes sense. <-My only political jab for the day.

I don’t know if the schools still do it today, but when I was a kid, the second to the last day of the school year was “track and field” day. Even though my athletic skills never allowed me to win a ribbon, I always had a blast and most of the events made sense to me. High jump, long jump, races, discus, shot-put all made perfect sense. Humans have been competing against each other since Cain was jealous of Abel. It all made sense, thousands of year ago two guys probably looked up and saw some hottie 100 yards away and said whoever gets to her first gets her. There you go the first race. Later, while they were living in some cliff dwelling and a tiger was trying to climb up and eat them, the men said whoever can throw a boulder the furthest and most accurate and hit the beast, not only doesn’t get eaten but also gets the meat. There you go, the first shot put and discus.

Now as we expand sports, some still make sense, in the right manner. For instance winter sports, I don’t know what it is called but some athletes cross country ski while shooting targets. To me that seems kind of silly, but after living in the mountains I can certainly see how that started. Picture it, several drunk guys are sitting around their cabin and one says “with my gun, I can hit a beer can from a hundred yards.” Of course the others say “no way” this angers the man and he ups the stakes, “I bet I can hit it while skiing down the hill!” Then the inebriated group stumbles out and takes turn trying it, and there you have it, another sport invented…. A pretty cool one too.

While all of these sports are reasonable, there was one grade school competition that never even the least bit made sense, Speed Walking. What in Gods holy name is speed walking, and how did it ever get started. Let me guess, two French men were walking down the street and a horrible monster came up behind them and one said, “we need to walk really fast to get away from him” and the other says “ heck with that, I’m going to run”, the first one says “Don’t be so uncivilized, lets walk really fas-AHHHHHHHHHHHH.” Okay see what I’m saying it never made any sense at all. Even watching the race every year, the guy that won always at one point or another cheated and ran.

 So back to my original point; I typically walk much faster than my wife, try as she might to keep up, and on Sunday the whole speed walking thing finally made sense. Since it was a Bronco’s day we really weren’t expecting to see a lot of people on the river. Pulling into the parking lot and seeing the amount of cars however, quickly informed us that we were not alone. We walked down to the river and we could see about forty yards down that one of our favorite runs was unoccupied. At the same time we glanced across the river and saw another guy gazing at our prized run. Now being the civilized flyfisherman that I am, I would never burst out in to a full sprint (partially because I need to be timed with a calendar rather than a stopwatch), but all of a sudden I felt Cat walk by me quickly. I glanced over and the other guy began to pick up his pace. The “Rocky” theme song blasted through my head and I began to speedwalk past my wife and into my prized run. I glanced back to the other side to see the progress of my competitor, making sure I didn’t make eye contact and I realized that his race was foiled by a tree in his way. At that moment it all became crystal clear and made perfect sense, even though I never actually competed in “speedwalking”, that had to be where it all started. Thousands of years ago two people looked at the same magnificent piece of river and wanted to be the first to wet a line it. I can’t go back in time, but I think I may need to start training now, and then I can fish wherever. And best of all, no more wondering my life is complete and it all makes sense.(not)

 At times, the river this weekend fished pretty darn well. Our Saturday clients were all first timers and really had a blast. They didn’t get a bunch to the net, but learned quite a bit about the brains and brawn of our fish. The thrill of helping someone land their first fish on a flyrod still gives me goosebumps today.  I had heard rumors of a “real” BWO hatch earlier in the week and Saturday was the first serious hour long hatch I have seen this year. Sunday, surprisingly the hatch only lasted a short time, but while it was going on, the fish just came alive. With the weather forecast later this week I would guess that the Reservoir, if not already, should be completely turned over by this weekend and we should see clearer water soon. The clarity had certainly improved over the weekend. The shop schedule looks as if guide trips are filling up quickly. If you are thinking of booking, do it now. As always Connell, Cat, Winston, the Olympic committee, and The Drift Fly Shop want to thank you for reading…….