DIY fly fishing education
My view of the angling world underwent a paradigm shift more than ten years ago, when I was first introduced to fly fishing. Though I do understand why this somewhat melodramatic and ‘new-agey’ statement might be received with a groan, I believe that the following 500-700 words will be sufficient for a partial defense of my reasoning. Like cross-training in more conventional sports, exploring and learning to use different angling techniques helps to round an angler’s skillset, effectively increasing their adaptive capacity across various fishing scenarios. Downtimes during the fishing season make great opportunities for curious anglers to make their first foray into a new area of the angling world, and the dog days of summer are generally more hospitable than the winter season’s equivalent.
Aside from just being fun, and for most anglers, symptomatic of their growing desire for more fun, fly fishing has brought about changes in my angling life which include the following: (1) a new and broadened perspective on what fishing can actually be, aside from a means of recreation or subsistence; (2) a greater understanding of ecology, geomorphology, and entomology, among
other subjects; and (3) a more wellrounded angling and outdoor skillset, which includes an advanced degree in observation and emulation of nature. In recent articles, I have mentioned how valuable guided trips or formal lessons can be for new anglers. True as this is, modern resources provide plenty of opportunity for ‘fly-curious’ anglers who, like myself, require a more instant and cost-effective solution to curiosity gone astray, to engage in DIY beginner fly fishing education.
My definition of ‘modern resources’ does, of course, include the internet, but there are still great advantages and something undeniably romantic about owning and referencing literary works such as The Curtis Creek Manifesto, written by the late Sheridan Anderson. I have yet to encounter an instructional fly fishing book that describes and illustrates essential skills as effectively, and focuses on a more appropriate series of angling fundamentals, than the book that Bill Thompson, former owner of the North Country Angler in North Conway, NH, introduced me to during my days as a beginner. Illustrations, and in this day and age, videos, are often very helpful to avoid undue confusion over descriptive terms like ‘D-loop’. Highlighters, pens, pencils, and sticky-notes can be used with instructional fly fishing manuals in the same way that they are used in academic textbooks. Anglers who are very analytical and academically-inclined have a predisposition to selftaught fly fishing, and may find something uniquely pleasurable in this approach. Fly fishing handbooks are also advantageous for their portability, which allows them to be referenced on riverbanks, in hotel rooms, or anywhere else an angler may be in need of information about casting, or constructing a tapered leader.
The most keen anglers, who may naturally gravitate toward fly fishing as part of an inevitable progression in angling exploration, are often troubled by a mild restlessness or anxiety that results from a lack of actual fishing opportunity (e.g., due to seasonal closures or deteriorated conditions). Thankfully, there are abundant opportunities to learn about, and improve at fly fishing when angling for a preferred species is prevented for any number of reasons. One activity that anxious anglers can virtually always partake in is casting practice, which takes place settings that range from gymnasiums to baseball diamonds, and uses techniques that are transferable from other more familiar forms of practice, like free-throw shooting. Another notorious non-angling activity takes place at the fly tying ‘bench’, where many offwater hours and offseason days are spent by anglers who prefer its ambiance to that of the other ‘local watering hole’. Fly tying in itself can be taken to shocking extremes, the main limiting factor being individual imagination, or in other instances, the willingness and ability to collect live samples of, and attempt to replicate real prey items. During periods of slow fishing, anglers can renew lost feelings of excitement, previously associated with the pursuit of species such as fallfish or panfish, by using the same techniques intended for use during the fall trout season (e.g., Czech nymphing), while catching more beginner-friendly ‘practice fish’ in order to hone their skills.
Fly fishing, among other things, is valuable for its potential to satiate the constantly-growing demand for stimulation that is characteristic of many anglers. Observation of the many bizarre and extreme temperamental characteristics, and behavioral tendencies of obsessive fly fishers, makes it hard to avoid using terms like ‘junkie’, ‘addict’, or ‘fish-bum’ in reference to such individuals. Fair or not, these comparisons have inspired many acquaintances of mine, who are likely to become subjects of such conjecture, to respond with a list of the many benefits that they derive from fishing, and an equally long list of hypothetical trouble that they would have gotten into, had they not been so preoccupied with ‘fishier’ subjects. Although it is almost never the case, sometimes what excites and drives us is also what is best for us, and what is best for us is, in some sense, the most true.