Dreaming of Triple Steelhead
HUMOR/Fishing Philosophy
Absent a jury of our peers, too many non-fishermen
believe anglers actually make conscious choices about
when they should be somewhere. This is because people
who don’t fish don’t understand “fishing-time."
May speaker Danny Hooper with an NZ brownie
A Note from Rod McLeod of Tightlines
As the proprietor of Tightlines Flyfishing for the past
fifteen years, and as a supporter and customer of the shop
for 6 years when Richter and Murphy opened up, I would
like to thank all of you who helped make Tightlines what it
was and for keeping the flyfishing "flame" alive here in the
Sonoran desert.
Fishing-time is not like normal time. In normal time,
people are in charge. In fishing-time, fish are. This is
where the trouble begins. To a fisherman, a hot bite is like
a black hole somewhere in deep space. Time as we know
it ceases in black holes. Fishermen swept into such black
holes can be favorably compared to some future astronaut
who, temporarily sucked into a black hole on her way
home from the office, arrives home for supper a couple of
centuries late. You would not blame a well-intentioned
astronaut and mother of two for tardiness due to time
distortion, and you shouldn’t blame fishermen.
Fifteen years was a pretty good run; did some things
right, made some mistakes, but overall have few regrets
and it has been ton of fun. Hearing your stories and
getting to know interesting individuals made it all
worthwhile. Teaching the skills and ethics of flyfishing has
been more my line of expertise than the retail end, which
has become less and less fun as the industry has gone
through many changes. I try to keep in mind that every
good thing began with someone saying, "We can do this."
That said, the cynicism that has enveloped many other
recreational industries has yet to ruin the flyfishing
"bidness" and amateurs still remain the vital ingredient in
the creativity, knowledge, and passion that define our
sport. The trends that are generated out of need and
desire by us, the guys at the so-called Bottom of the Food
Chain (we should be at the top) are what define our sport,
avocation, passion and keep it going for future
generations. As an industry evolves into a more
established and stratified entity, those at the top seem to
forget that reality: many of the best ideas emerge
from the bottom.
In general, fishing-time tends to be short, not long. A
few hours seems to account for most episodes of fishing.
Our experience of fishing-time is that it is too limited –
which may account for why so many of us spend so much
of our non-fishing-time daydreaming about fishing,
hanging around tackle shops, tying flies and swapping
fishing lies with one another.
Like red wine and white fish, watches and fishing don’t
go together. A watch tells you when to go home or go to
work, not when to go fishing. If you see a fisherman cast,
look at his watch, cast, look at his watch, land a fish, look
at his watch, cast and look at his watch, you can pretty
much figure he’s got either a date in court or a bad
marriage.
Paul Quinett – Fishing Lessons
Clubs like OPTU are vital in this entire process, the
continuum of the wonderful thing called flyfishing,
conservation is perhaps our greatest calling, so I hope we
can continue to support your efforts. And get a bit of
fishing in besides.
The current plans to reintroduce Apache and
Gila Trout to the southern end of this state, after few of us
planting a bug in the ear of the local G&F people, are
perhaps the most exciting developments of the past 20
years for me, so I hope we can all get on the same page
to assist Don and Jason in this effort.
Rainbows over the Juan
Thank-you again, and best to you all.
Rod McLeod
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