TimRobinsin wrote:
yeah, like I said, it was possibly one of the most helpless feelings I have ever felt. just seeing it in there made my gut sink. I got into this sport because I was instantly addicted to the rise. my grandfather Fisher (haha yeah i know apropos right!?) was a real fisherman, he would take us out and I would hate it. getting up early, dealing with his persistent barking of orders, rigging up, being quiet, not catching anything while he was just reeling em' in. it was so overwhelming as a youngster that I learned to hate fishing. it was this redneck, WT sport that made no sense because we have supermarkets right? who needs to catch their own food?
it wasn't until my best friend introduced me to the sport (himself had just taken it up because of Norman Maclean's book). it was as if i had been reintroduced with something I had lost along the way. albeit we used FF as an excuse to drive 4 hours away from our girlfriends to drink and smoke our brains out for a weekend in the name of FF but it was that we never missed a morning, no matter how hungover, dehydrated, or tired we were. no matter how F'ed up we got the night before talking about the day, we still made it out the next morning to do it all over again.
that part never went away, FF always was there for us to make penance of our indulgences and restore us to "respectable" men. I was hooked on drys the first time a trout rose to my fly and I pulled it away to early for a set. just the fact that the fish obliged me was amazing and compelling enough for me to want more. This all had not been lost on me as shortly after taking up FF my "pappy" passed and I was never able to fish with him again. My mother told me how he loved FF and nobody else in the family did so he stopped and began spinning, as that was what my uncles liked better.
as i continued on the path of FF I learned to hate nymphing, as it seemed not as fun as dries and I would lose a college tuitions worth of flies doing it. however, after some listening to FF elders and reading I learned techniques that have allowed ne to be somewhat successful at it, to the point where I love nymphing as much as top action now...perhaps more.
that said, I have fished a few "nymphing" rods and by far the 99 was my fav. so to see it caught in my tailgate by my own careless doing was most upsetting and very depressing as I could feel my "pap" looking over my shoulder and saying "thats why you ALWAYS put your rod away!"
hahaha, wow! a couple of straubs and I open up! ha! well there you have it, do I need therapy? probably, I guess its a good thing I have an appointment with Dr. Brown first thing tomorrow!
