wrote


You and she might feel differently after spending a winter in
Stanley. :-)


I brought the subject up to her thinking that if she thought a vacation on a
tropical island sounded great, the combination of pleasing her and some new
fishing might be enough to motivate a trip.






Like you say, different strokes. I always prefer to fish new places,
and I
seldom travel far to where I've already fished, unless it's on the on
the way
to somewhere new. We're very different in that regard, as you seem
to return to the same places every year.


I usually set out to visit some new places, but then I'm always torn between
that and going back to the places I really love. I sowed a lot of "fly
fishing oats" in my youth, and traveled a lot in the West, having one or two
night stands at many waters. Now I'm more satisfied by the intimacy of
long lived and thoroughly tested love than the titillation of a short new
flingG

Mainly, I have a passion for the Ranch section of the HFork. I'm positive
that 95+% of the anglers that do the short, name collecting, visit there
leave thinking the place is terrible fishing, I meet disappointed guys every
year. I listen to their complaints, tell them they are right, and
encourage them to not come backG.

It is a place that demands study and patience. As a friend says,"It is
what it is and you either love it or hate it." The study part of the
requirements is more interesting to me than catching fish ... the
micro-habitats are so varied that virtually every day you meet anglers that
'never saw a rise' and others that were in the middle of "an incredible
hatch" ( it's also common to catch a rising trout within a few dozen yards
of a guy bitching about 'no fish working,' ya gotta learn how to REALLY
look ). Turning the difference between right place and wrong place for
right now, from pure luck to the result of knowledge is my goal. I'm
nowhere near reaching it.

I get frustrated, I get routinely skunked, and I need to go somewhere less
demanding at times, but I'm always thinking about the Ranch, regardless of
where I'm tossing a fly .... must be loveG.

As you know, I also love Silver Creek, but it is WAY easier and one of the
places I go to repair my RanchDamaged Ego.



Larry L ( who just flashed on something that happened a few seasons ago ....
I was looking for risers and F___ moved in near me ( he and I have chatted
about retrievers and fishing several times ) and soon hooked a nice fish,
that got off. He then asked why I wasn't casting to the fish near me.
"What fish?" He pointed with his rod to a seam about 25 feet from me, and
started announcing each rise "there, there, again but over about a foot to
the left of the last one, threre back where he was " I looked and looked
and never saw the fish, I backed off and circled, trying to find better
lighting. I mumbled something to the effect of "you're full of ****,
there ain't no fish there" Invited, he moved next to me, cast where I
had been looking and ... yep, hooked a very nice 18" trout ... I DID see
that rise, but barely, the fly just went down. It was a revelation and
it's amazing how many fewer "no fish working" days I've experienced on the
Ranch since then )