Fishing

I'm trying to finish my fishing story......

Let me start by talking about Fly fishing. I was introduced to Fly-Fishing as a young man, but it's not like my dad Fly fished. A friend did it, and I had a chance to experience fly fishing with him during a trip to Yellowstone. The compelling part of it was that it wasn't boring.
After University, I was re-introduced. At a very impressionable time for me. That first trip started out at "Western rivers fly fisher". My buddy trying to convince me to drop $200 for one trip, buying $50 in flies $30 in tapered Leader, $80 sun glasses..... and on and on and on. Well Though intimidating, I made it out only spending $10 in flies and $10 in tapered leader. The pricey nature of this, just flat out sounded LAME!!!. My buddy and I borrowed, what I called a Pole, from another friend of ours. This friend then Tied up our Tapered leader and tippet to the rods, Showed us the Blood Knott. Rods fully strung we left town at the crack of 10pm for the 2 hour drive to the river. This was the Craziest thing I'd ever heard of, showing up at noon, unable to tie our own rods, no idea what I was doing.
That first trip I remember spending hours untying knots pondering if this was even possible. Then it occurred to me that what I should do is not try and Cast, and just sort of flip the fly a short distance....

(let me also provide an aside here, I was HIGH as a Kite. I'm not advocating this for anyone, I feel as though I waisted a lot of my young adulthood on getting High. I enjoyed it, but overall it was not good for me.)

Being as altered as I was, for about 2 hours after that, I was in the "Zone". Literally visualizing the Ecosystem, and the fly and the fish in that system, trying to "Game" the fish into taking that fly, trying to notice the variation in the strike indicator(yes we were nymphing). I managed to get a few bites.... But I was officially hooked.
As I do, After that, I went to the library, pulled every fly fishing book I could find, Scanned through all of them, and bringing home an arm full. Which I then Consumed.

I then Returned to the water with a scrounged up Fiberglass Fly fishing Pole, Automatic reel. 7 dollar floating Weight forward, 10 or 12 LB line(which balanced out that Reel quiet well). 2-6x tapered leader(killing me at $8 each). 10 dollars of purchased and scrounged up flies from Kmart. Pair of Levi pants, Army boots for wading. Also, I started reading the books of John Gierach. I started fishing the spring Streams of Utah alone. After a month, I managed to somehow Catch a Fish, Using the most ridiculous little domestic house fly looking thing.
After fighting High stream flows, and settling into catching one fish in about 3 trips. High summer settled in, and I purchased a spare $20 rod and real from K-mart and started inviting other people to go with me.
I was working Temp Jobs, I'd work for a couple days, then take off all weekend, and just fish and drink beer, smoke a little dope. At high summer I could cast 10 feet. By late summer I could knock a beer can off a car at 20 feet. Though I had read many times about "Drag Free Drift." I finally had mastered and understood that, "Holy Biblical Truth of Fly fishing". I started buying Flies at actually "Fly Fishing Stores", understood the concept of "match the Hatch". I had been to the "Green River" twice, which in My opinion, is the "university of Fly-fishing".
That fall, I froze my ass off, Wader-less as I tried to fish the icy fall rivers. And was managing to catch one fish per trip, minimum.
Over the winter, I managed a couple of snow bound fly fishing trips, purchasing canvas waders from K-Mart for $20. By spring I was absolutely suffering, I had been bit by the fly-fishing bug, and it needed a fix. That spring, I put a brand new Fly Rod, on layaway at Anglers Inn for $400, I had wanted to buy a nice Winston for $250, but it was gone, and I settled on a more expensive Sage 590SP+ which was the last year they made the SP+, which is just a little "Crisper" than the SP. I absolutely love that Rod, that was the best money I ever spent.
I will never forget the year I spent, fishing almost every weekend, in a pair of Jeans, with a Fiberglass rod, and automatic Real....
It took me 2 years to be able to afford a Reel that properly Balanced it, but I did find a $40 one that took care of me for quite some time.
I still have never purchased an $80 pair of sunglasses, never paid over $80 for waders. my Vest apparatus and jacket, I scored on Clearance the vest for $20 and my jacket for $30.
At my Apex, I could throw a quality cast 60'.

So, Labor day I made it out for the first time this fall. Saw some amazing water, absolutely pulling the fish in, one after the other. Since I do, "catch and release" when I decided to keep a 20+ inch fish, I managed to, first chase him around for about 5 minutes. Then managed to lose him when I awkwardly tried to pluck him out of the river. I'm certainly happy he lived to fight another day.

Sadly, the old Fiberglass Rod was smashed in the tailgate of my truck a few years back when my Spastic Cousin, smashed both it and my Sage. In a Careless, Rushed move to get on the river a few Years back. I almost Cried. The Sage had a Warranty, but that old Fiberglass Rod, was absolutely priceless with the memories of that fist season, it was my one constant companion, as I traipsed around Idaho utah and colorado, trying to find myself and get turned in some kind of direction, at the age of 24.