A River We Call “The Zoo”

                Warm weather and not a whisper of wind has the ability to awaken fisherman’s urges.  While we all understand that the fishing would be best with heavy cloud cover and a nip in the air, the human in us can’t resist a warm sunny day in January.  So joining the hundred or so other fisherman on the water Thursday made for an interesting trip to say the least.  I watched as hopeful anglers pulled into the parking lot only to find six other hopeful anglers pulling on their gear with a speed that was actually comical.  Those already geared walked with a quick step and their collective thought could almost be heard in the air “No one would ever walk all the way to my favorite run.”  Unfortunately, yes others would have walked that far and they did it an hour ago.  There are many ways to respond to these days. You could be the “doom and gloom”, the “frustrated and angered”, or you could be like me. I use zoo days as school days.  In my book being a GREAT fly fisherman is a constant quest for knowledge and you can never learn more then on zoo days.  How many opportunities does a person get to see techniques used by fifty different anglers? While I do not suggest spying or asking to see everyone’s rigs, I do suggest watching.  Perhaps an angler has approached the run from a different angle or is letting their fly drift just a little further down into the slack water then you do. Watching, however means not fishing and there are those zoo days when I just can’t stand by and watch.  I must touch fly to water.  On those days I am forced fish water I would have usually walked right by, or only half heartedly casted into.  Thursday I worked hard over a riffle I typically only cast into sporadically and was rewarded in a way that will be remembered.  It is for this reason that I say thank you zoo days.  They say the measure of a good fisherman is not the ability to catch fish when it is easy, but to catch fish when it is impossible.  The zoo days will teach you to overcome the impossible and make you good, so don’t give up J