On Sun, 17 Oct 2004 21:12:25 -0600, rw
wrote:

It's a cliche to say that a picture is worth a thousand words, but like
many cliches, it contains an element of truth.

I was privileged to observe one of the masters of fly fishing
presentation, ROFF's own Dave LaCourse, demonstrating his subtle
knowledge on the famous Kiddie Hole of the San Juan River in New Mexico.
Dave was gracious enough, in his characteristic, self effacing manner,
to allow me to capture one photograph that clearly shows two major
no-nos of presentation. Please examine the photo carefully:

http://www.ruralnetwork.net/~troutbum/web/****heel.jpg

The first no-no, which should be immediately obvious to anyone who has
flyfished more than once in his or her life, is that you should never
allow the flyline to wrap itself around the butt section of the rod.
Doing so will inevitably result in the loss of a football, within five
seconds of hookup at most. Dave would have hooked up with a football on
the very next cast, but he was fishing the Kiddie Hole, which is known
for it's quantity of beat up fish, and not it's quality, footballwise.

The second major no-no, which might not be immediately obvious to a
newbie flyfishing tyro, is that you should not twist your flyline into a
grotesque snarl. To be perfectly honest, I don't know how Dave managed
to do this. Perhaps he was preparing for a left-handed snake-roll spey cast.

Well, all I can say is that he doesn't look all that fat...what, is he
smarter, richer, better-looking, and doesn't suffer from penis envy?

And for the record - archive it, print it out, and write it your diary -
I'd out-fish, out-think, out-smart, out-****, out-drink, out-wiseass,
and out-just-about-everything-else-I'd-desire-to-outdo-you on my WORST
day, and I know folks that are better fishers/casters than you or I will
ever hope to be, but they aren't pompous Hemingwannabes, and they'd be
the first to acknowledge they've had train wrecks that makes this single
picture of Dave look like the poster for how to cast.

But by all means, hang yer silly, narrow ass out a little further over
the edge...and note to Warren - you really had to ask why I give the ol'
Mayor of Ketchum, Jr, a hard time here on ROFF?

HTH,
R
....and really, man, surely in Idaho there's a 12-step program for those
with a potato-snorting problem...