WRITING ON THE FLY
By GEORGE LISET
The year starts anew when I go out to get my new fishing license. As my favorite Iowa son-in-law quipped, “My license to gill.” You have to love the Bond reference.
When I began fishing in New Hampshire, I started buying my fishing license at City Hall Market in Dover. This was an old school market. It was a hole in the wall that had fresh produce, canned goods, milk, bread, toys, candy, beer, some fishing supplies including worms and fishing licenses.
City Hall Market reminded me of the little market I used to shop at growing up. It was not well lit, with hardwood floors that were worn and creaked with every step, but it was the smell that brought back childhood memories. The mixture of spilt milk and beer, mixed with the fresh produce and the scent of pipe tobacco and cigars, alone the smells would be hard on the olfactory senses, but together it was a potpourri of fond memories.
When I first started buying my license, the license was hand-written on a water proof form and the market had a wallet size holder that advertised the market, that you could place the license in. I didn’t need the water proofed license so much then, but I wish they would bring them back. For the record, I attribute my occasional falling into my aggressive fishing style and not to old age. Just saying. I did see that they were making some stylish water wings though.
But times changed and City Hall Market went out of business, so now I buy my license at Dover Marine. A great place to shop, but it doesn’t quite have the ambiance City Hall Market did. I know I can get my license online from the comfort of my own home, but for some reason I need to go and get it. Call it a ritual or a habit, it is what I have always done. I guess it makes it feel more real versus making a counterfeit one at home.
Getting a new license also becomes a time of reflection, looking back at the people, places and things of the past year. As much as I love fishing alone, I do like people and talking to people about fishing. This year I lost some close friends but made some new ones and got reacquainted with some old friends. My friend Glenn Grant is a wealth of information and everything Maine. Glenn still has a bunch of stories I haven’t heard yet. My fishing buddy Coach B and I will get on the water a little more now that we are getting our medical issues taken care of.
Every year one of my New Year’s resolutions is to fly fish in new waters. This year I hit a number of small streams and creeks up in the White Mountains with my friend Terry Sharbaugh, alias Jeremiah Johnson. Terry had me scrambling over every boulder and scree in the Whites, but we did get into some gorgeous Brookies. I really enjoyed fishing small dry flies. Maybe I can keep up with my son on our trip to Pittsburg to fish the trophy stretch this coming year.
Under “Things,” I did pick up some new equipment. I purchased a vintage bamboo Orvis fly rod that I have used a number of times. I also have a couple others that I will use as well, especially now that I have a person to fix them if I start fishing too aggressively. I also bought a new pair of waders that have a zipper, designed for the more mature fly fisher. I’ll be happy to use those.
All in all it has been a good year. I am excited to see what the New Year brings. The people, places and things that I will meet and visit. This might be the year I out-fish my son. Yeah, probably not. But anything is possible with a fishing license.
George Liset of Dover is an award-winning outdoor writer and avid fly fisherman who shares insights of his time on the water exploring New Hampshire streams and rivers as well of those around New England. George is a graduate of Wheaton College, Illinois, and the University of New Hampshire. His column Writing on the Fly has been honored by the New England Press Association and the New Hampshire Press Association.
