WRITING ON THE FLY
By GEORGE LISET
Choosing a fishing partner can be a difficult and a somewhat interesting challenge. It can sometimes be so anxiety producing that an angler would rather fish alone, which is not a bad thing. I fish alone mostly for convenience and expediency. If I just want to get on the water for just a few minutes to clear out my mind or to try out a new rod and reel I’ll go alone. Or if I am going for a visit and/ or an appointment and there just happens to be a trout stream on the way. But there are times when you might like the company.
Before I hit the road with someone new, I’ll usually fish with them locally. I’ll have them meet me at a spot and we’ll fish a river together. I fish to relax and to enjoy the scenery. I enjoy the quiet. Competitive fly fishers who keep a count of their catches or wanna be play by play announcers are not enjoyable to fish with. I do have a couple of friends that I fish with that might have ADHD. They are constantly changing flies and switching spots, but they’re quiet about it.
On a long road trip, it is nice to have someone that can help drive and have a conversation with, providing you have something in common, other than fly fishing. Don’t get me wrong, the conversation always revolves around fly fishing. However, there is always conversational drift, and it doesn’t take much. A road sign, some one cutting you off or passing you at 100 mph. Usually it is news on the radio, which is one reason I have Sirius XM. Another reason is I want to listen to good music. Enough said. Politics is a no no. My blood pressure is high enough and I fish to relax.
I like to have company when I fish new or difficult to get- to spots. You always need someone to tell them where the body is when you do something stupid. Seriously, it is not as much of an issue with cell phones, but I am at the stage in life where I don’t bounce back when I hit the ground.
It is always fun to fish with another angler when they take you to their honey hole. Your companion has done all the hard work. They have searched and found the spot, they have scouted it out and found the good holes. You get to go along and enjoy their hard work.
I remember going to Jackman, Maine with my friend Charlie to fish some remote trout ponds. We had to drive thirty minutes down a paved road, then another forty five minutes on logging roads. We pulled off the road and found a hidden game trail. We bushwhacked into the pond for another thirty minutes with our float tubes on our backs before we got to the pond. I asked Charlie how long it took him to find this spot. He said three years and said he got lost a few times. He told me this was a pond only guides knew about. No one would tell him where it was.
You can appreciate the hard work it took to find the spot. That’s a guy you want to go fishing with. I am planning a few trips and I am lucky enough to have some friends I can call on to fish with. I have friends that like the big water and enjoy throwing streamers. Other friends like the small streams and enjoy throwing a dry fly. If you’re lucky, you might choose a friend that will pick up the lunch tab. Now that’s a friend!!