csoult
Well-known member
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2011
- Messages
- 1,763
The Addiction
I first heard fly fishing being called “the addiction” after I had dabbled in it a few times and someone, not sure I remember who, said “before you know it you going to have the addiction”. I wasn’t sure what that meant at first but I would soon find out.
I have been addicted to many things in my life. Cigarettes were my first addiction, it began at eleven. Whether I want to admit it or not, I started, like many, thinking that it looked cool and tough. The first time I smoked, I smoked half a pack of cigarettes and then proceeded to puke my guts out. I tried it again later, and pushed myself through the sick moments, and before I knew it I was hooked. I continued to do that nonsense for eleven years until I couldn’t stand it anymore and it made me sick for different reasons. I then replaced that dependence for others such as snuff, marijuana, exercise, coffee and other things. If you think you can’t get addicted to marijuana, do it every day for seven years then try to stop. It’s addictive maybe not physically, but it is addictive none the less. The bad addictions I have kicked, well I haven’t quit drinking coffee but it has not been proven to be bad for you, just in excess. All of these addictions are something that I have had to do every day to become dependent, the one that was to come did not.
This brings me to fly fishing. Like cigarettes, I tried it first because some of my friends were doing it. I did it, not to look cool as I think I have grown past that, but because I thought there were some aspects to it that fit my personality well. And like cigarettes, I really didn’t like at first. I wasn’t catching fish; I was spending more time taking knots out of my line and getting my fly out of the tree. When I did get a fish to take my fly I would set to quickly and miss or I would try to horse in the fish and snap off my fly. Needless to say I became very frustrated. So I stopped fly fishing, only picking up my rod once a year for an annual trip with my friends that was more about drinking and hanging out than fishing. Every year I would catch a fish or to and that was the extent of it. A few years ago I went on one of these trips and I don’t know if the conditions were just right or what but I caught a lot of fish. Well that was all it took, and that is where it began.
After that trip I decided that I was going to give this sport a real shot. I began reading, first about how to cast and mend, then about tying knots, reading water and so on. I realized that the reason that I wasn’t catching fish before is that I had no idea what I was doing. This really fueled my addiction because at that point I wanted to apply some of the things that I had read to the real world. Even though some of these things didn’t work for me, some of them did! I started catching fish my confidence grew. I then began to think about it all the time and any spare moment I had was spent on the water. This was the first time that I was addicted to something that I didn’t have to do every day.
I have now come to realize that this is something that I will be doing for the rest of my life. I will do this the rest of my life and never know all there is to know about this sport because there are just too many divisions within the sport. I may have yet to find the fishing that I like to do most. I think this is what intrigues me and why it has become my most complete addiction……because there is no end. I now fully know what “the addiction” means.
I first heard fly fishing being called “the addiction” after I had dabbled in it a few times and someone, not sure I remember who, said “before you know it you going to have the addiction”. I wasn’t sure what that meant at first but I would soon find out.
I have been addicted to many things in my life. Cigarettes were my first addiction, it began at eleven. Whether I want to admit it or not, I started, like many, thinking that it looked cool and tough. The first time I smoked, I smoked half a pack of cigarettes and then proceeded to puke my guts out. I tried it again later, and pushed myself through the sick moments, and before I knew it I was hooked. I continued to do that nonsense for eleven years until I couldn’t stand it anymore and it made me sick for different reasons. I then replaced that dependence for others such as snuff, marijuana, exercise, coffee and other things. If you think you can’t get addicted to marijuana, do it every day for seven years then try to stop. It’s addictive maybe not physically, but it is addictive none the less. The bad addictions I have kicked, well I haven’t quit drinking coffee but it has not been proven to be bad for you, just in excess. All of these addictions are something that I have had to do every day to become dependent, the one that was to come did not.
This brings me to fly fishing. Like cigarettes, I tried it first because some of my friends were doing it. I did it, not to look cool as I think I have grown past that, but because I thought there were some aspects to it that fit my personality well. And like cigarettes, I really didn’t like at first. I wasn’t catching fish; I was spending more time taking knots out of my line and getting my fly out of the tree. When I did get a fish to take my fly I would set to quickly and miss or I would try to horse in the fish and snap off my fly. Needless to say I became very frustrated. So I stopped fly fishing, only picking up my rod once a year for an annual trip with my friends that was more about drinking and hanging out than fishing. Every year I would catch a fish or to and that was the extent of it. A few years ago I went on one of these trips and I don’t know if the conditions were just right or what but I caught a lot of fish. Well that was all it took, and that is where it began.
After that trip I decided that I was going to give this sport a real shot. I began reading, first about how to cast and mend, then about tying knots, reading water and so on. I realized that the reason that I wasn’t catching fish before is that I had no idea what I was doing. This really fueled my addiction because at that point I wanted to apply some of the things that I had read to the real world. Even though some of these things didn’t work for me, some of them did! I started catching fish my confidence grew. I then began to think about it all the time and any spare moment I had was spent on the water. This was the first time that I was addicted to something that I didn’t have to do every day.
I have now come to realize that this is something that I will be doing for the rest of my life. I will do this the rest of my life and never know all there is to know about this sport because there are just too many divisions within the sport. I may have yet to find the fishing that I like to do most. I think this is what intrigues me and why it has become my most complete addiction……because there is no end. I now fully know what “the addiction” means.
