Hello all and thanks for checking in at The O’Grady Fly Fishing
Adventures. I sat down this morning with Christmas songs humming through my
brain and I was planning on writing my yearly “Merry Christmas “blog and then I
made a huge mistake. I jumped on my Facebook feed and in two and a half videos
my mind went from pure Christmas joy to pure Nature. The first video on my
scroll was a pelican grabbing a pigeon and slowly draining the life out of him
in his gullet. The next video down was an absolutely gorgeous eagle swooping in
and was so powerful that he took down a goat. The final video was like watching
a proverbial train wreck; a lioness sat behind a bush as a line of wildebeests
ran by. I remember watching the Lion King many years ago with my youngest and
even though the cartoon showed lions as thoughtful and nice, I knew that I
didn’t want to see it but I could not take my eyes off. The lioness flinched on
a few occasions but was waiting for the perfect meal. I felt completely
paralyzed and was unable to scroll down or look away and the out of nowhere, a
giant male lion came flying past and took down his dinner. At last, my trance
was lifted and I quickly scrolled down my feed but not before my Christmas
thoughts had been removed from my head.
Now I know
some of you may have heard this story before but I’m pretty sure this is the
first time it has made the blog. Now I know with most of my stories either get
better or more epic with time, this one may go the other way. When I was in
high school I had a friend that asked me if I wanted to go hunting with him. My
family had never really been in to that and I thought that I might as well give
it a try. The first day out we only ran across one pheasant, when he took off I
quickly aimed and got off a couple of rounds. The bird was not harmed, but the
feeling of complete power raced through my veins. Shortly after that I began
practice shooting and quickly became a proficient pheasant hunter and the power
feeling began to grow. Pheasants, rabbits, geese and even trying to figure out
how to move up the ladder into big game and then one day I had what some people
call a “come to God moment”. It was like any other November day with me and my
trusty sidekick German Sheppard at my side and I flushed a rooster. Like second
nature I raised, shot and watched the bird fall out of the sky. I hurried over
to make sure that he didn’t run off and as I reached for him he turned his head
and looked me square into the eye and somehow, telepathically asked me why I
hurt him. I froze and probably felt like the Grinch after hearing the
songs out of Whoville. I went home that day and after cleaning my gun, I put it
in its case and I don’t think it has been out since. Yes, I am very aware that
I am a wuss and maybe even a hypocrite. You see I love a good steak, chicken, a
Christmas turkey and I have even been to Cody’s for dinner and eaten, venison,
salmon, crappie, and elk(my mouth is watering), I guess I just can’t handle the
kill.
So as I’m
writing this blog it has become crystal clear to me why I love fly fishing so
much. You see I have never missed the kill (excluding maybe a few bait
fisherman, poor drivers or certain politicians)jkjk, but the hunt was missing
for many years. And it might even explain why I can’t look away on the videos.
The Eagle dropping in and its wings partially collapse, you can almost see the
air holding him up. The lioness patiently plotting out which beast to take down
and the pelican using its different mouth muscles snuffing out the pigeon. Its
kind of funny that even still today when I sit down to tie, I find myself
slightly salivating because this might be the fly that lands my fish of the
day. When I get to the river and I see “my spot” open, I find myself feeling
like the eagle swooping in. And with the lions, if you wait too long to take
the cast, I might just take it out from under you, good thing the line of fish
is still there. And the best thing of all, you can net the fish, take a quick
pic, release the fish and on the way home, stop and eat a slopper.
So if you have skipped the hunt of this fly fishing blog and have
moved straight to the kill then this is your start. The river temps this week
have moved the river into a really tricky zone. Personal days and guide trips
have been fun but not easy. On the days when the water warms even just a
little, we have seen some great BWO hatches. On the days when the water never
really warms the BWOs have been sparse and midges seem to be the meals. The FOD
has been the ticket before 2:00 p.m. and after the fish have been on Ninjas and
Black Beauties. The adult Thorax BWO has still been attracting lips. So
as I close out this blog I want to go back to what Cat and I initially wanted
to say; We hope that all of you have an incredible Christmas and we hope to see
you all on the river next year. As always, Connell, Cat, Winston, Simba, and
the Drift Fly Shop want to thank you for reading……
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