Fly fishing only

Once upon a way back when, I was making some decisions about my life, my job, and so on and decided to turn to fly-fishing only. I quit one job and told the new place I needed to give two weeks’ notice before I started, because I wanted two weeks to do nothing but fish and relax and think. I wanted less complication in my life.

Believe it or not part of the complication was my fishing. I had a bass boat with a depth sounder and all that crap. I owned all the standard salmon fishing boat gear, the trout spinning rods, plugs for steelheading and I was just all over the place. It actually took considerable time, money and effort just to store the gear and keep it in good working order. When I sold the boat the trailer literally dragged down the driveway because the wheel bearings were shot with salt water, the wheels didn’t even rotate! HA!

So I started methodically re-dedicating myself to fly fishing. I first had started it many years ago as a kid with an Eagle Claw fiberglass rod and a Pfluger medalist reel. One of the first trips was to Martin Creek by the pass. The hike in with my uncle was brutal, but the mountain trout were starving, and darn near ever pool I dapped the fly in I caught an eager, bright trout! This was many years later and I sat down and re-assessed my gear. I picked up an eight foot Fenwick rod and hit the Skykomish first. I remember that sunny day like yesterday, the feeling in my heart of doing the right thing.I had decided I could be so-so at many things or maybe be really good at just one thing, so I decided to try and learn the art of fly fishing. It did help just going with the one method it eliminated many choices, decisions and expenditures. I could concentrate more on what the hell was important. I also learned that guess what? Trout eat bugs and really it isn’t that hard to catch them with flies, often it is the most deadly way to fish.

I was at a fly shop and heard someone talk about “Rocky Ford”. Well I went in and tried it. It blew my mind to be able to look in and see trout that were bigger than any I had ever caught. This was in about 1988 and it was much less well known. You could walk right up and look at the springs out of the ground about 8 to 10” in diameter. The metal bridge down below wasn’t built yet. I tried and tried but the fish were too selective for my crude machinations.Eventually, mostly through dumb luck, using a dragon fly nymph I hooked a nice trout about 18”. The fight was on! Since this time I have caught many more and bigger fish than I ever did before. Mostly though I just have more fun, it is quieter, hence the nick-name “the quiet sport”, and more contemplative. I also like being able to release unharmed almost everything I catch. All-in-all it has been a very good bargain for me. It is a pastime that people can enjoy their entire life and Washington is one of the best states to do it in.