Andy Dear | Monday, 27 February 2023
Back in 2021, I wrote a Front Page about a friend from high school with whom I had recently reconnected, who loves to fish. Although he and I were friends in high school, how we missed that we both had a passion for angling to this day still baffles both of us! A couple of weeks ago he texted me, asking if I would help him get set up to learn how to fly fish. Of course, I was more than happy to oblige, but little did I realize how much helping him learn the basics would make me appreciate this 25-year journey that I have been on myself.
I have alluded to on multiple occasions the effect that the fly fishing-centric show "The Walker's Cay Chronicles" had on me back in 1995. To say it was life-changing would be more than accurate. I probably spent several months' worth of pay on books and VHS tapes learning basic casting techniques, how to tie knots...I even purchased a Renzetti vise to learn how to tie!
Back then, we didn't have resources like YouTube that could cut your learning curve by half or more. In a way however, I miss those days, I think because at the core of it, fly fishing is a complex sport, and the journey through the complexity is what makes this whole game worth playing. I can't begin to tell you how many thousands of hours I spent on the soccer field at the local park practicing my casting both before and after work...and many times BOTH! Ultimately my fly fishing journey intersected paths with my rod-building journey, and the two have been intimately aligned ever since.
Most important though, are the great friends I have had the pleasure of making along the way. My life has been infinitely richer because of the friendships that rod-building and fly-fishing have brought into my life. Heck, the other day I got to calculating the math, and it will be 20 years ago this year I first stumbled upon Mr. Arden and Sexyloops!
So, last week when Kent asked me if I would help him start a journey of his own, I was more than happy to help. In fact, I think this is going to be a great exercise for me as well. It's already forcing me to come up with new and creative ways to articulate how to develop some of the skills and concepts that I've felt have been instrumental in whatever success I've had as an angler over the years.
As I described to Kent, much like golf, this is something you can do for the rest of your life, and never completely master it.
Next week we'll resume our series of saltwater flies from the files of Dr. John Tebbetts. And, if the wind will ever stop blowing here in Texas, I may actually get to go fishing!
Hope you all are having a great week,
Andy