Laboring Today, Fly Fishing Yesterday

Good old Labor Day. A day off to celebrate other days off.

I know  that is a gross misrepresentation… kind of…

For me, there will be work today. I’ll be laboriously reading, writing, and – completely unrelated – assembling IKEA furniture.  Don’t worry, I took yesterday afternoon off (to fish). And I’m taking tomorrow morning off (to fish).

Consequently, I’m taking it easy on the Casting Across front so I can get my labor on. That doesn’t mean I’m leaving you high and dry. I’ve got some good things for you, regardless of the intensity of your individual industry.

Here are three quick things:

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Waiting Decades for a Trout

“I know protecting them is important,” I said, “but what is fishing for greenbacks like?”

“They’re beautiful, special fish that live in amazing places,” he said, smiling. “They aren’t the only cutthroats that need to be protected, but their story is special.”

I had a lot of questions for the late Dr. Robert Behnke in the short amount of time we spent together. Completely aware that most people don’t want to talk work while not working, I still peppered him with various inquiries about trout. He didn’t seem to mind. I assume that when you are the world’s leading expert on salmonids, your office hours don’t end once you leave the classroom.

Greenback cutthroat trout have been squarely in the center of American fly fishing culture for decades. The story of the greenbacks is too lengthy to go into detail here, and much has been written regarding these special fish. Their supposed extinction, “discovery,” rediscovery, and conservation have been at the forefront of trout-centric causes for my entire life.

Consequently, I’ve always wanted to catch one.

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Mentally Moving on in Fly Fishing

You’d think that it would be easy to write about fly fishing in a new place, for a new fish, for the first time. There is a lot to say about the particularities of the species – how it looks, how it acts, how it is the same or different than other fish like it. One strain of cutthroat trout is different than another, which are still dissimilar from rainbows… and quite different from brookies. And, of course, that’s just talking about trout (and char).

It should be simple to describe the endless contrasts that exist between fly fishing out west and on the east coast. It isn’t just Rocky Mountains vs. Appalachians. The rocks, the trees, and the bugs make for completely unique experiences even before you cast a fly.

There seems to be a progression:

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Cutting in from Vacation

I’m currently in the middle of a family vacation / cutthroat expedition.

(Note: the backslash above represents an immense chasm.)

But I have an amazing wife, and she’s humored me as I’ve driven, run, and climbed about the Rocky Mountains in search of native fish.

More content from the trip will be coming in the following weeks. For now, I wanted to share a few articles about cutthroats in general, greenbacks in particular, and population conservation.

Read what I’ve been reading below:

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Fly Fishing Podcasts Worth Listening To, part IX

Fly fishing can define an experience, a personality, an event, a place.

Listening to the voices of those who see such things through the lens of fly fishing can be captivating. If you fish, you’re hearing something in your own language. Hearing them can make you think, push you to do something, or just pass the time – but regardless, you’ll get it.

Today I’ve picked four podcasts that I’ve enjoyed. Moreover, I’ve picked four episodes that are really about the aforementioned details. You’ll hear conversations and interviews that aren’t just about fly fishing. They are about  an experience, a personality, an event, and a place.

Here are four podcast episodes that I think are worth listening to:

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Why the Release is as Important as the Catch

Picture yourself hooking, fighting, and landing a fish. It could be a trout, a bass, or a bonefish. Regardless of your quarry, put yourself in that moment immediately after it has been unhooked. Things could play out in a few different ways:

  • You could bonk it on the head and eat it later.
  • It might flop out of your hands and disappear.
  • You could place it back in the water and allow it to swim away.

Given the right circumstances, the first option isn’t awful. Brookies in the Rockies, hatchery steelhead, and fat panfish are delicious. By and large, fly fishers aren’t eating their catches. There isn’t anything inherently wrong with it, but the what and where usually make it prohibitive.

The second course of action is immensely dissatisfying. Especially if it is a good fish, losing it prematurely in the angling process takes something away from the experience. It is good that the fish has the vitality to release itself. Ultimately, that is what catch and release is all about. So why does an escaping fish elicit groans and hand-wringing?

Because there are still vestigial remnants of fishing’s bloodsport ancestry.

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Photo Contest: #myvedavoo (2)

Hey… that’s my stuff! Again!

Why is there an assortment of large, monochromatic flies on display? Vedavoo is having another photo contest. This time, they want to see What’s In Your Wallet.

These are my preferred way to carry larger patterns like mice and articulated streamers. I also like how flexible they are. Unlike a larger hard-sided box, stashing a wallet in the front of my waders or shorts pocket is never uncomfortable. Plus, I can keep some use-specific leaders and a hook file in the small pockets.

I won’t give you anything besides a like  on social media. But Vedavoo is giving away one of their brand new, extra large fleece fly wallets. If you have a Vedavoo fly wallet, and I know a lot of you do, snap a picture, put it on Instagram, and give it the #myvedavoo hashtag treatment.

Want more details?

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They Only Care About Hackle

It was a damp fall morning. The kind of morning where the weather wasn’t great but at least it wasn’t damp and summer. There wasn’t any humidity to speak of, just a little wet. You could see it on the changing leaves, sense it underfoot, but not feel it in the air.

We had gotten a late start getting out to the mountains. Those kind of mornings are fun, in that you get a little bit more sleep. They aren’t so fun when you start to worry that you’re going to be the third or sixth car in the parking lot. That is the kind of despair that will awaken you to how bitter your gas station coffee really is.

Brook trout don’t take kindly to being fished over a few times.

By some providential set of circumstances we rolled in at the late hour of 8:30 to an empty gravel pull off.

-Wow. Didn’t expect to see that.

-Yeah, looks like we don’t have to hike before we can fish today.

We would hike anyway. Because we, like most fly fishers, assumed that all the fair-weather anglers only and always pound the pools immediately upstream from the parking lot. No longer rushed by hypotheticals, the ritual begun. Always in the same order: waders, boots, vests, rods, reels, lines, flies.

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You are Not a Trout Bum

Why? Because you’re reading this, for starters.

A real trout bum isn’t going to be online, clicking through articles about fly fishing and fly fishing miscellany.

A real trout bum would be fishing. If not fishing, he or she would be doing what needed to be done to make fishing in the immediate future possible. I think that my writing isn’t half bad, but I can’t imagine it is must-read stuff for the person who would appropriately bear the title.

Like Eagle Claw rods and PBR, the term Trout Bum has been liberally appropriated by all manner of fly fishers. Ever since 1986, when John Gierach’s book titled with the phrase was published, the words have become a self-bestowed badge of honor. People from across every social stratum consider themselves trout bums.

But that just isn’t realistic. If everyone is a trout bum then no one is, or something like that.

Or, how about this: If it bothers you that I’m accusing you of not being a trout bum, then you probably aren’t one.

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