Revive - A Quarterly Fly Fishing Journal | Page 143

Maybe the corn-chucking crowd does have it partially figured out. They’ve stripped fishing down to its skivvies and only focus on the bare essentials. They know you don’t need something called a casting shirt to catch a few fish. I learned how to fish in an old johnboat, and the redneck Mississippian in me appreciates this vulgar approach. Despite the litter and the rampant poaching, they’ve stripped all pretense from a sport that can easily worship at its own alter.

Anyone who’s done it knows there’s a certain grace to casting of a fly rod. Only they can appreciate what it takes to get a wild trout to sip a custom blue winged olive emerger pattern. But, as much as I love its aesthetic and technical beauty, fly-fishing can get caught with its head wedged up its own auto-erotic ass. A delicate dry-fly may be beautiful, but I’ll settle for a big nymph rig weighted with split shot and an indicator if that’s what it takes.