A Flyfishing Perspective.....

  A blog about flyfishing perspective; if you have been a follower of this blog for very long at all, you will have noticed how my attitude on this river has really changed over the last three weeks or so. January and February I’m sure can get a little tiring reading my complaints about the “poor” fishing conditions. As the river has seemed to waken over the last few weeks, I am trying very hard to keep the “Very Good” conditions in the proper perspective. I remember several years back when every time I felt like I had a good day I would tell everyone I know how “EASY” the fishing is at that time and they needed to get there now. I got to fish a little Friday evening with Brandon and a little with Cat and Sunday’s client and fishing seemed “pretty good”. So here is where proper perspective is required.

  Saturday I was in the shop for a little while and the phone rang and the person on the other end was asking questions on the water conditions. I told him that the flows were good and fishing should be “good”.  He paused a second and then told me that the conditions were “bad” because the last time down he got skunked. Cat was telling me that one of our friends had been out and also really struggled.  One of the greatest benefits of being a guide is seeing firsthand how difficult this addiction really can be. There seems to be so many steps to landing these super smart fish and it seems one mistake can screw it all up. First you need the proper flies, and then you need to set up your rig correctly. Next you need to find the fish and then put a pinpoint accurate cast in front of the fishes face. If you have made it that far and the fish takes your flies then you have to navigate the fish around the rocks, trees, and sometimes even around your idiot guide. If you have made it that far then all you have to do is correctly net your fish, hold the fish so the fish looks huge in the pic and finally get the fish back in the water safely.(exhale). Cat has it almost all down; we are still trying to get her to hold the fish so they look as big as they really are.

  Okay I guess that isn’t very smart since I just gave away all my secrets to landing fish. As you can see there is more to it than just going to the river and it being easy, so I will now try to give our readers a positive spin on the river. If you have been in the shop over the last three weeks and have bought flies than you have made a great first step, and for that I want you to take your right hand and stretch it across your body and pat your back once. If you have been on the river and have been able to spot feeding fish (not spawners), then I need you to reach out your right hand, stretch it across your body and pat yourself on the back twice. If you have been able to find the feeding fish and get your flies in front of them, fool them into eating and work them around the rocks, then I want you to stretch out your right arm and pat yourself on the back several times. If you have gotten the fish into your net, taken a quality pic and released the fish safely then I want you to stand up and take a few bows, because you have earned it. (Please don’t do the last step if you are driving in your car and reading this at the same time). Now if you are struggling with a few of these I will throw in a shameless self promotion and say that this might be a great time to hire, Cat, Cody, or myself sometime and hopefully we can help your perspective on this river be as rosy as ours. As always, Cat, Connell, Winston, and The Drift Fly Shop want to thank you for reading……..

 Pics are from Friday evening Sunday's trip and a Sunday evening fish.