Why You Suck at Fly Fishing

“A lot of people want to be rich, they just don’t want to put the work in to get there. “
-forgot where I heard it

Great fishermen don’t spend a lot of time fishing stretches of water dominated by hatchery fish.  They don’t stand on the same rock, or even in the same run all day.  They’re always moving, covering as much water as possible, only slowing down when they’re into fish.  While experience gives them an idea of which flies they’ll need for the day, they don’t actually know which ones they’ll be using until they’re on the water.  And if that fly isn’t working, they don’t stick with it cause they caught a really big fish five years ago in this spot with it.  They will go through fly- after fly after fly after fly- until they find the one that does.  When fly changes don’t work, they’re adjusting leader and tippet diameter, or leader length, or the distance between their indicator and the fly, or the amount of split shot on the leader, or their drift, or anything else they have control over.  And if they don’t have control of something like the weather, they adapt to it.  Speaking of the weather…while good fishermen will try and catch the weather on the nightly news, they don’t let it determine if they’re going out or not.  If it is going to be 103°F and humid, or 6°F and windy, they still fish.

They’re constantly thinking.  While you’re admiring the beautiful sunset, they’re anticipating where the fish will hold after it gets dark, as well as which fly and what size tippet to go to. Good fishermen fish a lot.  They fish for as long as they can, whenever they can.  There is no such thing as not having time to fish.  There is only making time to fish.  And don’t go accusing them of being bachelors with no idea of the responsibilities that a family man has.  They have jobs and families too, its just that instead of sitting on the couch for an hour when they get home from work, or after dinner, they’re spending that time on the water or at the fly tying bench.

Its not that they love it more than you, its just that they work harder.