Video Retrospective

So I decided to go back through the last year plus and put together a bunch of video that I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with…. it is interesting to put so much fishing into 10 minutes but I think it lends some perspective to what has been a really fantastic stretch of fishing. Hope you enjoy!

Called Up From The Minors

Joe Reardon: He walked 18.
Larry: New league record!
Joe Reardon: Struck out 18.
Larry: Another new league record! In addition he hit the sportswriter, the public address announcer, the bull mascot twice…

So this past weekend Mr. Brownliner had the pleasure of chasing chrome with several very very accomplished anglers. To say that I was out of my league would be an honest assessment, but I did manage to catch5 or 6 nice steelies and most importantly learn quite a bit along the way.

The one thing that I have found about most talented fly fisherman is that if you are a willing and gracious student most are eager to teach and impart what they have learned to you. That is one of the beauties of our pursuit…. we are a relatively select group and knowledge is there if you are eager to consume it!

So as I glance into my fishing rear view mirror on the day I have to chuckle at myself a bit. I went trough several dozen flies, the majority of 3X tippet spool, 2 leaders, and the consumption of a few dozen choice expletives. The yield was 6 fish to hand, lost at least that many more, and another handful of nice sized suckers to put the cherry on my sundae. To a certain degree some of this is not so much being out fished, but outclassed…

There is something about watching a skilled nympher at his craft. The economy of motion…. the reading of the water…. the way the fly lands in the water…. where the fly lands in the water…. the drag free drift…. the smooth pick up….

Wash, Rinse, Repeat.

Admittedly, I catch fish…. some might say more than most. But there is something to be said about doing it with style and panache instead of brute force. Fly fishing is the sweet angling science. It is a dance with a surgically sharpened blade and a steady trained hand. So this is what happens when someone with a few good years under his belt fishes with a collective of over 80 years of fly fishing prowess!

Stark differences… they pay attention to the water… they hunt long before they cast. They spend more time with their fly in the water! Elementary I know, but if you spend 30% of your day with your fly out of the water tinkering and dealing with your self created mess then you are in all likely hood going to catch 30% less fish! They take their time…. nothing seems rushed or hurried. There is a zen like calm that seems to cover the entire process from stalk, to presentation, to hook up, to land…. Panache.

So what is the good news. Believe it or not, you can bend… wait even CHEAT time! You see, if you spend time with a good teacher you can learn in a relatively short period of time what took someone a lifetime to compile. No flux capacitor or Delorian necessary! Great Scott!!!!!

I am hoping for one or two more cracks at Chrome before the sand runs out of the hour glass till the fall. Hopefully I will take what I have learned and put it to good use!

Good Luck and Tight Lines

MBL

One Fish, Two Fish, Trash Fish, Sewer Fish!

So Bob texted this to me the other day and I had to laugh albeit a bit uncomfortably. I have always known that many of our urban waterways carry some unsavory elements, but the sign was a bit of a punctuation mark.

Those of us who make a bit of a career of brown lining end up being the butt of our own jokes. We jest about “diaper dodging”, “tampon indicators”, “corn speckled trout”, and of course the ever prolific “latex ribbed sucker”…. and yes, I have caught a few on this list! Last season, I went to put on my Korkers to hit the creek and I noticed that both of my soles had come completely delaminated. At the time, I chalked it up to a product defect and emptied a tube of goo for the repair rather than attempt to send them back. After reading the above sign again… perhaps the product performed just fine but the environment that I expected it to perform in was just a bit well…. extreme?

I am strictly a catch and release guy so eating any of my catch is not an issue. I won’t wet wade in most of the waterways in my state as I have seen some nasty micro-bacterial infections that I am not interested in acquiring either. I do know this…. I WILL WASH MY HANDS AFTER FISHING AND PRIOR TO EATING…. I WILL WASH MY HANDS AFTER FISHING AND PRIOR TO EATING…. I WILL WASH MY HANDS AFTER FISHING AND PRIOR TO EATING!!!!