boblongjr

Mike G, I read the comments in the thread. I'd be glad to add my two cents regarding my approach to fishing (fly or spin) for smallmouth in flowing waters (rivers, creeks and streams), although the conversation seemed rather wide open, and I am not sure what to address specifically. I appreciate your kind and generous words about my presentation, Mike. I do see that in the comments (not yours) some of the concepts and language has changed a bit over my original intent. This happens naturally with time. It isn't criminal. :-) And, as always, I do not claim that my approach is the only one, the best one or etched in stone. Perhaps time for an update presentation at ISA sometime? I can say this. One big issue I have I did not address in my talk, is when we give fish (or animals in general) human character traits - when we use human language (instead of neutral language) and motivations to describe fish and their actions. This to isn't criminal. But the effect of such language is to have us looking for fish in places where we'd be, as humans if we were fish, and has the fish acting or reacting in ways we'd react or act as humans. Ultimately, this limits our ability as a fisherman to clearly or accurately understand the fish and its environment with clarity and true insight. The result is we tend to catch fish more by accident or happenstance, rather than by design or on purpose. Fish don't use their environment the way we use ours, or act the way we do, and as cold-blooded creatures they simply never will. The best fishermen either know this or intuit it, (even when they can't really explain it) and fish differently - and more successfully - than the rest of us. Note: Our language as humans doesn't betray us; it reveals us. We often say, "What I said isn't me. I mis-spoke, I was taken out of context, I didn't mean that, that isn't me, I was joking or whatever," when actually, it is us, it is what we meant, or felt, or thought. If we take responsibility for our language, it allows us the opportunity to change it, clarify it, and take action (fish) with more clarity and insight into our desired prey. I especially take exception with the use of "dry fly fishing for trout in rivers" language when applied to all types of fish in rivers. Even when applied to trout, the use of "dry fly" language isn't really accurate. Yes, it works, because most things work if you use it exclusively or over and over, and because fish ain't that smart to avoid being caught in general. That is why we have limits - to protect them. Hey, I ain't sayin', I'm just sayin'. ;-) All of this, in my talks and writings, is to help people catch more fish, or bigger fish with whatever method they choose. Nothing less, nothing more. If that is of interest, readers might consider giving my words a chance. If my thoughts have merit to them, great; if not, that is OK too. Thanks again Mike.

My goodness, I'll be dog-gone. Darndest thing. I went to the site. Thanks for putting it on your reply. That's really interesting. I'll take it you've not had the opportunity to fish it on the K3 or Fox just yet. The presumed "bounce" you might get could be interesting. Let me know, please, how it does: both in terms of catching fish, but also in terms of snagging up, or not. bob

What are those beads under there? How did you tie them on? What is their purpose? Do they bump into each other and make a noise? Those are really fascinating.

That is one nice looking fly; I mean a very, very nice variation on the Clouser's. I especially like the dubbed body version and think a mix of angora goat (and other materials), or furry foam might work for me. Very, very nice. Creative and highly functional. bob long

As in with a passion, not with an STD. Fly fishing is still my love. It is still graceful, melodic and engaging. If I am able to fish in Heaven, it will be fly fishing that the Angels provide. I do not consider it art (hey, it’s just fishing), but it is high craft. It involves the fisher in ways that good music involves the listener, great food involves the diner, art involves the viewer, and love-making involves the lovers. I am still quite happy, delightfully smitten and married to my fly fishing. I remain whole, not part, with a fly rod in my hand. It provides me with serenity, peace, calm, fun, excitement - three more nouns than Viagra does. (Although ain’t science in the 21st Century just grand?!) It is too complicated though, and it is too expensive. It is too wrapped in ornamentation and dogma, and does carry that unfortunate elitist air about it – far more today than in the 1960’s and early 70’s when it was seen as quaint, old-fashioned, ancient and “un-cool Daddy-O,” against the tide of fiberglass spinning rods and lightweight spinning reels with improved drags and casting systems flooding the country. There is a magazine that has as its banner: “the quiet sport.” It ought to read “the quiet, and gosh-darned expensive sport” too. (“Abandon thy bank account, a ye who enter these pages”). Who knew quiet would become so costly? Still, I remain hopeful that one day I will wander down to the Kankakee and see 3 out of 6 guys with a fly rod in their hands – or one fly rod and one spinning rod, feeling and looking equally at ease with both. Wouldn’t it be delightful to see each car parked under a shady nook with a fly rod and a spinning rod laid across in the back seat; either rod to be pulled as whim and fancy decree, or as reason and conditions dictate. I imagine, with a smile, today’s kids, just like me at 9 years old in 1959, possessing a fly rod, a spinning rod and a baitcasting rod and reel, all laying against the wall at home, ready to be grabbed whenever Dad or Mom answer your breathless questions; “where we going? What’re we fishin` for?” This is not Baby-Boomer nostalgia. The good ol’ days of fly fishing are today, not 1959. There are more fish and cleaner waters than ever before. And more public fishing water and access to those waters than all of Europe combined. Fly leaders are no fuss at all. Rods have never been better. Lines have never been better, either. Reels are lighter, prettier, and smoother. There are guides, magazines, books, videos combined with lodges and locations on the internet; fishing places high and low, and highways and planes that criss-cross the nation to get there. And there are limits: size limits, daily bag limits – that all help protect our wonderful fisheries. And, an Illinois license costs only $19.50 (with salmon stamp). You can fish 365 days with it! All day, all night! Other states may be more, but still, what bargains. Still, fly fishing, my beloved fly fishing, is too expensive compared to other fishing equipment that has to do a lot more. No fly reel has to do what a $120 spinning reel or $200 bait-casting reel has to do, day in and day out. Nothing should cost $150 that just holds line. Most of us freshwater fly guys barely use our drags: only steelhead, salmon and carp take line on me, no matter what the river: St. Joe, Muskegon, Manistee. I’ve never seen the end of my backing except on foul-hooked fish. (And even if you have, most of us don’t – so don’t break my testes about it, OK?). I think of fly fishing as an extension of my heart, not my soul. Same for my fountain pens, (which I use everyday), my 35mm Nikons and my vinyl jazz records. I hope I am writing clearly. Fly fishing is such a delight. I remain happy and contented with it as it is today, constantly exploring and experimenting with it. But it is too expensive, too dogmatic and restrictive, and a bit too snooty. But, with all these kids I get to play with, I am looking forward to some changes as the years go by. Perhaps as more come to it, the prices will come down and today’s $400 rod will cost $100. It could happen, you know. Thanks for indulging me. All of you’se guys is bee-yoo-tufull.

Sir Steve, There is always room at the Fly Fishing Inn for the "barbarian hordes." My philosophy: One of the reasons I give seminars, slide shows and write articles is to share. Over the years I've seen fly fishing in moving waters transformed into "dry fly trout" ethics, equipment and techniques, especially with the decline of streamer and wet fly fishing over the last 30 years. Streamer and wet fly techniques seem far more suited to smallmouth in our waters, than dry fly techniques do. And as I think smallmouth and trout are quite different, I think the dry fly approach actually hinders successful smallmouth fly fishing for many: not for all, of course, but for many. And, as we Boomers get older, and further removed from the streamer and wet fly days gone by, a new generation of fly guys and gals - those who came after the mid-1970s - have no exposure to those techniques, memory of them, or interest in them. And few amgazine articles deal with streamer and wet fly fishing, and fewer still as a warm-water technique. I have watched the growth of fly fishing on the K3, Fox and Dupage over the last 15 years. And not enough fly fishers are having the success they want or think they should be having (or should or could have, I might add). They are not getting close to the numbers they would get, or do get, with spinning gear on the same waters (using artificials only, not bait). I think their catch rates can go up and will go up - and success is always inspirational and confidence building in any activity, including fishing - if they consider letting go of trout (dry fly) think, and explore that fly fishing for smallmouth bass in midwestern rivers, creeks and streams, from late spring to early fall (water temps of 50 to 50 degrees) might benefit from differing approaches that may feel odd or too aggressive for fly fishing. I admit I know nothing of smallmouth below 50 degree water temps, and my techniques are meant to apply strictly to the warm waters of late spring (May/June) through early autumn (Sept./Oct). They may work otherwise, but I wouldn't know. Also, I realize that these methods are not the only valid ones, (and never will be), and may not even work for too many fly fishers other than me. But, sharing and comparing are always worth a try.

Here is the size of the fly, also some of the jighooks. I have used cones and dumbell eyes, but I found the hook still rode point down. Simply putting weight on the hook near the eye, (even on the top of the shank) doesn't change it's design characteristics and flip a hook designed to ride point down into a hook that rides point up. I found a great deal of difference in what I tied a fly to do, and what it actually ended up doing in the water, in current. 've found many flies didn't do as the tyer intended. There is a great deal of difference between a fly in the vise and one in the water. Maybe it was just me, but after many years, I abandoned cones and lead eyes and turned to jighooks.

This is a fly called "Not Much!" It's tied on 1/80 ounce jighooks. I can fish it about anywhere, cast well, and creeps and crawls like a son-of-a-gun in the water. Fishes from the surface to the bottom. hope it works.

I used to use mono weedguards, but I lost too many fish, and still lost flies. Having switched to jig hooks I am able to deeply fish into almost all of the cover I encounter without losing nearly as many flies - hardly any at all around rocks. Plus, for me, the bonus has been many more hookups on a fly that almost always rides hook up. Good points, Sir. I am delighted in the quality of the replies and observations. Perhaps we fly guys, and gals, do have a wee touch o' civility that develops with the fly rod and its ethics. I used to use mono weedguards, but I lost too many fish, and still lost flies. Having switched to jig hooks I am able to deeply fish into almost all of the cover I encounter without losing nearly as many flies - hardly any at all around rocks. Plus, for me, the bonus has been many more hookups on a fly that almost always rides hook up. Good points, Sir. I am delighted in the quality of the replies and observations. Perhaps we fly guys, and gals, do have a wee touch o' civility that develops with the fly rod and its ethics.

Jaime, I have three main points in my slide show about fly fishing for smallmouth bass in midwestern rivers, creeks and streams: 1. Slow down 2. Fish the slower areas right next to the fast waters 3. Fish Downstream If I had to pick one of the three, although i think of them as a package of principles that can, together, increase one's daily catch rank by 100% over the sourse of a fishing season, I would rank Fish Downstream as the quickest single way to improve one's catch rate. Fishing downstream will eliminate "enemy number one" for fly fishing; too much slack between you and your fly. It will eliminate it without thought or trying. When fishing downstream, which i do even with surface flies, one will feel takes more quickly, and be able to set the hook more quickly and solidly. Many fish, that would have grabbed the fly and ejected before we could feel it or react, will, in essence, set the hook, to some degree, on themselves as they hit and turn. Slow is a good life-in-general adage. We live too fast, play too fast, eat too fast, work too fast and don't appreciate much in the process. Fish the slow areas next to fast; the edges. As we slow down, we notice more. As we catch fish, we tend to concentrate more, or at least be more attentive. Noticing this part, I think, comes with success. One might still thin smallmouth live in riffles like trout, but with enough success, we will fish where we caught the fish. thanks for the shared thoughts and feedback.

Note to Sir Jamie, may I share some thoughts to contemplate? I noticed that a heavier fly was needed, too. A beadhead needed to become a dumbell head. If you fish consistently downstream, not fishing the fast water, but the edges where the slow and fast water meet, you will not need as much weight as you think. Slow water offers little resistance and flies sink easily. Plus, it you are close to your target, with your rod tip low to the water, there is little current to pick up the fly line and pull the fly off the bottom. Beadheads are Ok, dumbbells too, but learning to tie your flies on 1/64th to 1/100th ounce jigheads – using lightweight materials that don’t have much wind or water resistance - will be a godsend to you. Fish like a fly with size, not necessarily weight. I really like down and across for big streams... or technically greased lining. I like feeding more line downstream as it swims across to get that broadside effect. It was the only way (besides blind luck) that would get me strikes on the Kankakee. A white shenk streamer fished that way. Mid-level lure and you could see the strikes. Fun! Unfortunately, a rare event, too. Fishing downstream, and down and across works wonderfully for all size streams. Whether it is a big river or a small stream fish are not found by covering lots of territory. Fish are consistently found by learning to I.D. the 10% of the water that will tend to hold them consistently over the course of a season. Keep your casts to 30-feet or less. Try it please. It will allow you to see more strikes, and feel them too. It is tough to see or feel strikes that have to travel some distance up the line, to your rod to your hand. You will miss a lot unless the fish uses a very, very aggressive take. It seems like there are four? ways to swim a swimmer: 1) The "Tough Guy" so focused on swimming upstream that it will swim past big fish. 2) The "Slipper" trying to swim upstream but doing so slower than the current and so slipping downstream. 3) The "Drifter" holds position in the current. 4) The "Tumbler" doesn't hold position, but mostly tumbles with the current. A nearly dead guy. 5) The "Retreater" holds position swimming downstream slightly faster than the current. 6) The freaking out "Spooked" swimming downstream as fast as its flippers will flip. Okay maybe 6. I guess I'm trying to do the Drifter, but most of the time I feel like I'm doing the Tumbler. I feel like I am probably missing lots of strikes as a result. I’m not sure what these were describing (minnow or forage fish behavior?), but they sound like trout words or techniques re-worked to apply to smallmouth bass. Such reworking of trout thoughts are not needed and are actually counter-productive to fly fishing for smallmouth. Smallmouth take things for hunger (to feed), aggression (to defend territory or drive something off), curiosity (is it edible?), and competition (I don’t know what it is, but perhaps I should get it before that other fish does). These are the things that are all far more aggressive than trout behavior and the size, shape, color and aggressive or animated action we give to our lures and flies will, overtime, reward us with more fish, which as you so wisely and cogently observed, helps to focus our attention, make things more fun, which focuses our attention more. It's interesting... I find it easier to keep in touch upstream. I tend to fish the Retreater upstream. Similarily, I tend to fish the Slipper downstream. I like to pull slightly against the current every second or so, trying to just barely feel the lure... By fishing downstream with a low rod tip, a tight line, and short distance of rod to fly, you will feel so much more and react so much more quickly. that is, unless I've gone all braindead from wading and casting and trying not to fall in and dehydrated and hungry, then I don't have any idea what I'm doing... which is really most of the time . Very wise self-observations, Jaime. Buddha requests that we “investigate this life deeply.” It is not easy, quick or pretty. I would add that we should “investigate our [fly] fishing deeply.” Wading slowly, looking, feeling, sensing and living under the surface in the fish’s world (through experience, time and intuition), has so many rewards. However, it is tough to slow down. It is tough to only cover 120 feet of prime looking water when 240 feet lies before us. It is tough to put conflicting thoughts out of your head; such as, “as good as this water I’m fishing looks, it always looks better over there.” (You’ve lost all concentration, thought and feeling for what you are doing here and now when those thoughts creep in a take over). It is tough to stop, to eat, to drink, to sit for a moment and just look at the water, when “thar be fish out there.” It is tough not to wade and cast at the same time, like a quarter back throwing off his back foot without planting his feet. It is tough not to wade and cast at the same time in hopes of catching a fish through divine intervention or finding the occasional out of position idiot fish bent on suicide. I am 56. I didn’t get here overnight. It was a long struggle to learn to allow myself to see, to feel, to understand and go with the Force, to realize how much I didn’t know or had wrong. You are already on the path. Wonderful!

I happened to be driting by. If I might add a thought. Fly fishing downstream – straight downstream with a little fan casting to the left and right, will allow you to cover the water you described thoroughly, slowly, effectively and completely. Let’s say your holding area is 40 feet wide by 120-feet long. It is not flat, but has depths ranging from 12” to 36”; up and down, left and right, forward and back. If you think it will hold fish over the course of a season – 50-degree water in spring, back down to 50-degrees in fall - you must learn it and its little secrets. 10% of the water will hold 90% of the fish over a season. Find the little 10% spots within the whole; fishing downstream will help immensely. And the 10% isn’t necessarily in big sweet-spots or honey holes. It can be a percent here, a percent of a percent there. It is the little places that add up to a 10% whole. Slice the area into two, 20-foot-wide sections. Start at the head of the pool and slowly wade down. Cast no more than 20-to-30 feet in front of you. Cast left, center, right. Let the fly sink to the bottom, and work it back to you. Alternately your retrieves: use swimming, jigging, hopping motions. Natural, drag-free, trout-styled, dead-drifts are of no value to smallmouth. They eat live prey; prey that swims, holds, runs and darts to evade predators (minnows), or prey that fights back when they cannot run (crayfish). Smallmouth do not sustain themselves on nymphs anymore than you or I sustain ourselves on olives or other dainty snacks. We might nibble on some should the hor-deurves tray come by…but that’s about it. Give your flies action! Life! Animation! Think crankbaits, spinners, spinnerbaits, jig and twisters, not tiny in-animate nymphs. As you wade downstream, casting as you go, note when and where you catch a fish. Wade through that area. Let your feet tell you why a fish, or fish, was or where there. Was there a particular rock, a change in depth, a change in bottom composition, a change in current different from another area just inches or a foot nearby? The fish was (or were) there for a reason (its needs - not yours - were met). And wading through the spot sowly, purposefully and with conscious attention paid to what your feet feel - letting your feet give you feedback - may reveal why. Note the current on the surface. Did it give you clues – subtle or big – as to what your feet found? Was there a seam, a bubble line, a haystack, a boil? Both your feet and your eyes will provide you with enough complimentary clues so that your brain will soon be able to put this location (and other like it) into a combined surface and sub-surface mental image. Your catch rate will soar. After you wade the entire stretch, get out of the water, walk back upstream to the head of the pool, go to the other 20-foot-wide section and fish it downstream too. Fish slow, wade, make mental notes. Repeat this over and over. After you have done this a couple of times you will know where the fish usually are in this area. You will begin to live underwater with the fish and be able to “see” similarities in other areas that will allow you to fish with a purpose and a plan – not simple fan-casting, hoping and praying for fish as you go. Soon you may realize – or accept - that smallmouth occupy the “edges”; places where edges meet – current and objects, or current and current. Little places within larger areas, where the current falls to a slow crawl. Smallmouth are not trout. They have different shaped bodies, as well as pelvic and pectoral fins that have differing strengths and placements that cause them to use water and current quite differently. Trout sit and wait for food, smallmouth hunt when feeding time comes: trout are more selective, while smallies are more predatory and eat a wider variety of items; completely different personalities with quite different survival and feeding strategies. You do not need sink tips or long leaders (7 – 9.5-foot will do fine). You don’t need heavily weighted flies – a little weight will be fine. You will need split shot (“b” and “bb” sized) or learn to tie your streamers, buggers and crayfish on lightweight, 1/64th to 1/100th ounce - jig hooks (which almost always ride up, don’t snag as much, cast well and can be crawled so enticingly over sub-surface structure). Keep your casts to 30’ or less; it is tough to set a fly with more than 30-feet of line lying out. Why 30’ or less? Our waters aren’t that clear, smallmouth don’t look up like trout, they don’t feed on the surface as a matter of course, they have no real aerial-borne predators, and they really don’t know you from a tree or log (if you move reasonably quietly). Plus smallies are curious, not skittish, and territorial at times. They will want to know what you are, and will often follow your fly almost back to your feet. Mostly you will need patience. You are breaking with deeply held and ingrained fly fishing practices. Patience: the flies will sink, especially in the slower water next to the fast. They will stay down where smallies stay. And, smallmouth will rise to chase whatever it wishes to catch, you don’t have to drift it “naturally” into their faces. Keep your rod tip down - down close to the surface of the water. Slack is the enemy of all fly fishing people. Slack is the enemy, and no amount of rod play, mending, weight or whatever can get rid of it – only downstream fishing does that. The closer your rod tip is to the surface of the water (while fishing downstream) the less slack you will have. Period! Setting the hook will be a slight snap of the wrist. Many smallies will set the hook themselves as they inhale a fly and turn to run off with it or go back to their holding spot. Otherwise, a smallmouth comes close to its prey; pops open its mouth, flares its gills and creates a suction that pulls the prey in. The movement of the prey to the smallie is only 3- to 4-inches. With your rod tip down, fishing downstream, with no slack, you can feel these subtle little takes and react before the fish can eject your offering (which a smallmouth can do – open, close and eject an item in 1/60th of a second) before you are sure it was even there. “I think I felt something.” How many times have you said? It was often a fish. Fish your pool morning, noon and night, so that you will learn what 10% parts of the water are used at which time of day, which time of the month, which months of the year, and under various types of water levels. The 10% fish holding area isn’t one chunk of water, but a series of small percentages spread here and there. But ultimately, you will begin to see why the fish prefer “a” or “b” even though they may look the exactly same to your eyes. Hope this helps – there is more, lot’s more. But this will be a good start on fishing downstream, wading downstream, and learning to i.d. the 10% of the water that the fish use. Not the 10% you think they use, or the 10% the books say the use, but what the fish – in your particular and similar streams - actually do use. bob long jr

Perhaps it is age; perhaps it is time. Perhaps it is both; when the years and one’s dwindling sense of unlimited time - precious time - alter our view of the world. Whether it's the former or the latter – my feelings about fly fishing have changed. Fly fishing has gotten too complex for me; too regimented, to joyless. No fun. Then again, perhaps it is the 55,000 kids we have taken fishing as part of Mayor Daley’s Fish`N Kids program of the Chicago Park District over the past 5 years. Watching so many kids, aged 6 – 12 catch their first fish, has re-awakened my sense of wonder at catching a fish - any fish; a goby, bluegill, rock bass, smallmouth, perch, drum, salmon or trout. And, yes, after a day of taking kids fishing, I will relax by fishing for gobies. I can catch a million of 'em. Have I lost my mind or found my soul? Men take simple things and make them complicated. They take simple joys and pleasures and ratchet up the anty until the joy and pleasure within are almost unattainable. “Adult pleasures and joys are seldom joyous or pleasurable to kids.” – me, Fishing Chicago 2005 brochure. Fly fishing seems to have become enormously complicated with joy only attainable through strict and narrow structures and rules. In reality the way of the fly is nothing more than a stick, a line and a hook with some fuzzy stuff on it. "This is the right rod, the right line, the right way to cast, the right fly, the right waders, the right vest, the right fish." I was there. I did that too. I know the passsion - although passions can degenerate into poisons. If it isn’t caught on a dry fly that matches a hatch, then it is somehow the less. How about a small piece of nightcrawler on a #12 dry fly hook drifted on the surface when you have nothing that matches the hatch? Or even if you do, but simply want to catch fish! Yes? No? It was in the fly fishing tips section of a 1960 issue of Sports Afield. I was 10 when I read that. I never forgot it. It works too. I was fly fishing back then, in 1959 and 1960 (baitcasting reels were too tough for me – I was the Master of the bird’s nests from Hell and spent so much time de-tangling said nests I could only manage two or three casts per 30 minutes. Never could bait-cast. But kids can pick up fly casting so easily; no books or videos needed). Analogy (maybe a good one, maybe not). It is true that hunting deer with a mortar and grenade is neither sporting nor game (so some notion of “sport” and “game” are imperative), but hunting them with a Bowie knife is increasing the degree of difficulty to such absurd levels that to accomplish it is probably so satisfying that one might as well commit suicide after such success as you will never, NEVER, be able to do that again. I love the fly rod: I do, I do, I do. I love to catch fish with it. It just the game that comes with the fly rod that’s tough to take: “don’t hate the playah, hate the game!” Fly fishing should not be that strict and absurd: heck, we used to use spoons, spinners, tiny plugs, live bait even. But, it feels too strict and absurd sometimes; it reads like it, sometimes; it sounds like it, sometimes, in conversations overheard at the conventions and in the fly shops. Perhaps it is the adult’s convoluted sense of joy and pleasure gained by making things difficult and tough that I have lost; perhaps it is the child’s sense of fun and games where all things are possible that I have re-attained. I hope so. Perhaps I’m just a fool, a mad-hatter or I should just change my name to Al Z. Heimer and beat the Baby-Boomer'headlong rush to mass senility. A fly rod with a small piece of nightcrawler on a #12 dry fly hook sounds like fish to me; lot’s of fish; a couple of hefty-bags, but most, small. And lot's of fish, even little ones, sounds better on the fly rod than one fish on the right fly. Would I be boo’ed off the blue ribbon water by passers by with their $400 rods and $4.00 hand tied flies, tied and autographed by Master (fill in the name)? I once was you’ know. Not quite boo’ed, but huffed at with disdain. I was on the Kankakee in all of my fly fishing splendor: waders, vest, hat, and expensive rod; a cover boy shot. And, I was pulling in the smallmouth left and right. There was a gent on the shore: hat, tweed jacket, corduroy pants, bass weeguns, and a pipe for god’s sake. He watched, nodded approvingly at each tightly looped, perfect cast, a gave me a puff o’ the pipe and a smile with each fish. He asked what I was using. I held up the chartreuse, 2” twister tail and jighead tied with a Palomar knot at the end of my $55 WF/F Easy Glide, High-Floatin' and high falutin' fly line. That last puff (glowing embers and all) was anything but approving, that last grunt anything but smiling. He turned and left without a word. I guess I ruined his day, week, month, life, millennium. But, the perfect cast, the perfect lay down, the perfect drift, the perfect dry fly hatch- match, the perfect trout in the hand? So much perfection fly fishing. Well, that sounds like exaggerating inches to me. Perhaps I am old and simply need some Viagra to get my testosterone back. Maybe I just need a 2" chartreuse twister tail and a smallmouth at the end of my "00-weight." "Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day." — Henri Nouwen "Life is really simple, but men insist on making it complicated." - Confucious "Simplicity is the final acheivement. After one has playes a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art." - Chopin