Learning how to fly fish is challenging. It depends a lot on the attitude you approach it with. However, the first time you catch a fish is one of the most amazing experiences and right there, you are hooked. You become single-minded and one-eyed and as tenacious as a bulldog. That's when the transformation takes place and you become.. an ANGLER.

However, from that first fish on, you become more than an angler - you become a story teller too. One goes with the other. It's automatic, and takes no conscious decision. Suddenly the fish are bigger, the line lighter, the lure was tied by your own skilled hands and playing the fish took hours.

You can't seem to help yourself. There you stand, with arms spread at least three feet apart, showing just how big the fish that got away was. No matter what size it actually was, suddenly its THIS big. No fish pulled harder. No fish pulled line off the reel so fast. No fish put that much of a bend in the rod. No fish was so heavy that it ripped the rod right out of your hands and.. you lost it.. right?

It's pretty much of a cliché but the old saying goes, "Fishermen are born honest, but they soon grow out of it." All fishing stories are now greeted with an overwhelming dose of skepticism no matter how much truth is in it. The cartoon of a fisherman holding his hand really wide as he describes the 'one that got away' is such a cliché but a generally accepted cliché . In fact, for those anglers who practice catch and release, it can be a real hurdle as they have no evidence. Their stories are always greeted with, "Show us the fish" and "Where are the photos?" Followed by uproarious laughter and derision.

Yeah, its not easy to be an angler. But it can be lots of fun, lots of hassle, hardship, disappointment and more. No matter whether you are just learning how to fly fish, or you have been fishing for a while, the worst day fishing can still be the best day of your life. Forgive me for being such a macho jerk, but while the birth of your kids, or your wedding day are pretty special, the day you caught your first fish in something else. There is something about fly fishing that brings out the testosterone in guys. Maybe it has something to do with sizing up the quarry, learning its habits, finding its hiding place, and then teasing and luring it to your hook, and then landing it. But whatever it is, fishermen will always be accused of telling lies, damn lies and .. fishing stories.

As always - Good Fishing

Al