Last week, I guided two different people for the week. One man, one woman. The guy, I'll call him Larry, was a nice enough guy, but had a difficult time listening and comprehending what I was saying, which resulted in a ridiculous amount of repetition and patience and aggressive pointing to where I actually wanted him to cast his fly. He also didn't quite understand the fundamentals of the cast and usually ended up over compensating with a HeMan haul on the forward cast, similar to trying to cast a musky plug as far as you can with a grunt and possibly a fart escaping in the process. This masculine approach to a technique that requires only finesse and rhythm, results in many flies dangling innocently from branches or drowned, clinging to submerged snags below the swift currents. Zero regard was given to his surroundings or to the amount of time and effort I spend at the vise, tying those damn flies. I did the math, and I can confidently say that there were roughly three dozen flies lost during this last week alone, which at about ten minutes per fly of tying time equates to 6 hours of my life viciously stolen from me, one bad cast at a time.
A gorgeous 22 inch rainbow. Caught by Larry.
The lady, I'll call her Martha, wasn't too bad. She had never touched a fly rod before in her life and after about a half hour of casting instruction in the lawn, she was able to at least progress the flies in some sort of direction. Goal number one, get the flies into the water. You can't catch too many fish when your flies are wedged into foliage. I can't say that we destroyed fish, however, we had some great conversations, had some laughs and ended up netting a few fish in the process. For someone who has never caught a fish on a fly rod, it is an exciting experience. It's fun for me to witness this process unfold. From the initial cast, to the presentation of the flies, to me yelling "SET!", to the line getting tight and awakened with life, to the fight, to eventually getting the fish into the net, it is just as exciting for me as her guide as it is for her. What I have heard and now what I have experienced, is women are the easiest people to guide. They listen, which results in better form and technique and they don't have that inner need to dominate a fly rod with muscle and brawn. Those two factors alone will allow someone to catch on quickly and in the end catch more fish.
Martha with her first fish on a fly rod. Exciting stuff!
It was kind of funny, at the end of our last outing, Martha and I were fishing below a bridge that when you stand on it and look down you can see absolute behemoths ranging from 20-30 inches. These fish honestly look like decent sized steelhead, but because of their size and as a result, smarts and awareness to their surroundings, will have nothing to do with your flies. It's fun to fish to them anyway. She was getting some good drifts but couldn't quite get her flies far enough under the bridge to allow her flies to get down to the larger fish. It was about time to head back and I asked if I could make a cast for her and then hand her the rod. She agreed and I got low and put a tight loop about half way under the bridge. Before I could get the rod back into her hands, the indicator went down and on instinct, I set the hook into a nice 20 inch chunk of a rainbow. I tried to give the rod back to Martha, but she claimed her arm was hurting and wanted to instead have me fight the fish and for her to net the fish for me. So that was how my trip ended with Martha. We switched roles and I became the fisherman and she netted the fish. I'm not gonna lie, it was a pretty good change of pace from the rest of the morning.
Overall, the week was a success. I never got skunked with a guest and I think all of them had a pretty good time in the process. Each person is teaching me something new, not only in different teaching methods, but also about the tiny intricacies of the sport. I'm always on my toes and am required to think outside the box at times. I can't say that I have ever been required to approach fly fishing in this way before. I look forward to everyday on the water. I am fortunate to call this my job.
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