Intentional Memories
Be intentional about making positive memories. Absorb the details of adventure. Make it personal. Sitting here writing, I can almost feel the cool water swirling around me and the sun burning away morning mist as a trout rises to sip my blue-wing olive fly. While tapping away on my laptop, I recall the surge of a weighty trout ripping downstream. I reminisce about gentle hesitations of my fly line triggered by a sub-surface slurp of a bead-head nymph.
Purposely generate positive memories for others. I want my children and friends to say, “Remember when…,” with a big grin on their faces. I can watch the mental reel of my wife and son landing fish where I hooked my first fish on the fly. I recall the whoops of family and friends fishing the big water together. I remember the taste of trout grilled over a fire with sides of fried potatoes and onions. I recollect stories and jokes told by the campfire spawning convulsions of laughter. These are the treasures of life…and they are yours to make. We only have so much time here.
Try Something New
The paradox of contentment is that happiness requires a balance of the familiar and the new. A person cannot be fully content with only the familiar. A person can’t be at peace if everything constantly changes. Equilibrium of novelty and familiarity is necessary to enjoy life fully. What does that have to do with fishing? For example, if you tie your own trout flies, happily produce your old standbys, but every now and then tie something a bit crazy. Once, my youngest daughter had a mermaid doll with a shiny dress. She outgrew the doll so I tied flies using the shimmering material from the miniature dress. Trout hammered them! My buddies asked me where I got the little nymphs. I told them they were custom ‘Mermaid Flies’. They were so effective that one of the greatest fly fishermen I know, a man who manages his own trout fishery, paid me to produce some for him. Appreciate the ordinary, but venture outside the comfort zone every now and then.
Use a Wading Stick
Three points of contact are a necessity when wading big water (your two feet plus the stick). It significantly increases your stability and diminishes your chances of involuntary baptism. I’ve watched a few friends go down in frigid waters and I’ve had to fish a few out of the drink with lungs full of water. Wading sticks are not very expensive. Today’s versions are lightweight and collapsible so they don’t interfere with casting. Don’t traverse big water without a stick. It could be deadly.
Don’t be a Diddywick!
If someone is in your favorite spot, don’t make a big deal out of it. Leave them to it. The river is always ‘first come, first served’. Never, again I say NEVER infringe on another fisherman’s space. If fishing is therapy (and it is), then walking into a man’s fishing spot is like barging in on his counseling session with his therapist. Don’t be a Diddywick!
So what do you do if you encounter a true-to-form Diddywick? Well, I believe a true fisherman is a gentleman. As a gentleman, I ask permission to share a thought with the perpetrator. So far, even these ill-mannered anglers have welcomed the input when I have asked permission to give it. Then I say something like, “I’ve always viewed fishing as therapy. It is time to relax, unwind, and enjoy nature. When someone comes into the spot where I am fishing, it’s like a stranger coming into my therapist’s office when counseling is in session. Does that make any sense?” Most people get the drift and apologize after this analogy, but some just continue to look at you like a calf staring at a new gate. If you get this reaction, you have to make things very plain. Say something like, “There is a lot of river to fish. Do you mind finding another spot? Thanks and good luck to you!” So far, this has always worked for me
Purposely generate positive memories for others. I want my children and friends to say, “Remember when…,” with a big grin on their faces. I can watch the mental reel of my wife and son landing fish where I hooked my first fish on the fly. I recall the whoops of family and friends fishing the big water together. I remember the taste of trout grilled over a fire with sides of fried potatoes and onions. I recollect stories and jokes told by the campfire spawning convulsions of laughter. These are the treasures of life…and they are yours to make. We only have so much time here.
Try Something New
The paradox of contentment is that happiness requires a balance of the familiar and the new. A person cannot be fully content with only the familiar. A person can’t be at peace if everything constantly changes. Equilibrium of novelty and familiarity is necessary to enjoy life fully. What does that have to do with fishing? For example, if you tie your own trout flies, happily produce your old standbys, but every now and then tie something a bit crazy. Once, my youngest daughter had a mermaid doll with a shiny dress. She outgrew the doll so I tied flies using the shimmering material from the miniature dress. Trout hammered them! My buddies asked me where I got the little nymphs. I told them they were custom ‘Mermaid Flies’. They were so effective that one of the greatest fly fishermen I know, a man who manages his own trout fishery, paid me to produce some for him. Appreciate the ordinary, but venture outside the comfort zone every now and then.
Use a Wading Stick
Three points of contact are a necessity when wading big water (your two feet plus the stick). It significantly increases your stability and diminishes your chances of involuntary baptism. I’ve watched a few friends go down in frigid waters and I’ve had to fish a few out of the drink with lungs full of water. Wading sticks are not very expensive. Today’s versions are lightweight and collapsible so they don’t interfere with casting. Don’t traverse big water without a stick. It could be deadly.
Don’t be a Diddywick!
If someone is in your favorite spot, don’t make a big deal out of it. Leave them to it. The river is always ‘first come, first served’. Never, again I say NEVER infringe on another fisherman’s space. If fishing is therapy (and it is), then walking into a man’s fishing spot is like barging in on his counseling session with his therapist. Don’t be a Diddywick!
So what do you do if you encounter a true-to-form Diddywick? Well, I believe a true fisherman is a gentleman. As a gentleman, I ask permission to share a thought with the perpetrator. So far, even these ill-mannered anglers have welcomed the input when I have asked permission to give it. Then I say something like, “I’ve always viewed fishing as therapy. It is time to relax, unwind, and enjoy nature. When someone comes into the spot where I am fishing, it’s like a stranger coming into my therapist’s office when counseling is in session. Does that make any sense?” Most people get the drift and apologize after this analogy, but some just continue to look at you like a calf staring at a new gate. If you get this reaction, you have to make things very plain. Say something like, “There is a lot of river to fish. Do you mind finding another spot? Thanks and good luck to you!” So far, this has always worked for me
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