What do fly fishers like?

"NiceTo FlyFishers" wrote...

1. What do fly fishers like/need/want?

Bamboo rods are usually a good gift idea; Phillipson, Granger, or a custom
short lite rod, like a 6' 2wt are good choices. Also fly tying materials,
especially those essential but hard to get items, like albino wombat belly
fur, size 32 no-see-um hooks, or a mating pair of jungle cocks. Or better
yet, a jungle cock and a jungle hen. And you can never go wrong with a
bottle of single malt scotch. As a general rule of thumb, the older the
flyfisher, the older the single malt needs to be. Also, there is a long
history of flyfishing literature; an autographed first edition of "A
Treatyse of Fysshinge wyth an Angle" by Julian Berners would be a welcome
addition to any anlers library. The second most revered volume among
flyfishers is "To Hell with Fishing" by Ed Zern, as it is filled with
profound wisdom and sage advice. One thing you don't want to give a
flyfisher is a new hat; you don't want to touch his old hat, probably not
even with rubber gloves


2. If I was married to a fly fisher, and wanted to better understand
what they are talking about over the dinner table without actually
becoming a fly fisher myself, what books or websites should I look at?

Best bet is just to realize that anything a fisherman is saying about his
fishing trip is either a lie or a damn lie, and just nod your head and smile
as if you actually believed any of it. You could try reading "The Dry Fly
and Fast Water" by George LaBranche, after a few chapters of which you will
come to understand that your flyfisher is totally insane, obsessed with
outsmarting a fish that has a brain the size of a dry pea, and having a
somewhat difficult time of it. The flyfisher spends his day up to his flask
in a chilly stream, using a $1000 stick to tangle his $60 line up into some
branches, emitting noxious fumes from his pipe and his waders, while
imbibing more single malt than is appropriate for a Sunday morning, and
after hours of tangling his line, falling in the stream, and using a stream
of vocabulary that would make the very devil blush, he finally catches a
fish, and lets it go. What's not to understand?


--
Timothy Juvenal
www.tjwoodworking.com