Don't be afraid to ask and share

[Tom Butler]

I had a great morning fishing, way better than any of the gear folks. I was approached by 3 other fly fisherman on my way out. One younger fellow was so new he still had the zip tie on his reel, but was really eager to learn. We spent several minutes looking through his boxes and picking some flies and more taking about fishing in general. If you're new, or even if your not, if it's not working the way you want what have you got to loose by asking? Some folks are gruff, but the people I met were really nice and I'll always share, especially with folks who are changing over and want to put them back.

 

[Richard Olmstead]

Many years ago, not long after the Cedar river reopened after being closed for several years, I was fishing downstream swinging a streamer under overhanging branches and through deeper runs picking up the occasional nice fish that no longer seem to be there today. I came around one bend and there was a young guy fishing a pool. I made one last cast well upstream of him before reeling up to get out of the water to go around him. I hooked a really nice fish on that cast; he watched as I landed and released it and waded out of the river. As I was walking past, I said hi, how are you doing. He acknowledged that he was just learning to fly fish and had not yet caught his first fish on a fly. He showed me the fly he was using, which I knew was unlikely to be productive. I explained what technique was working for me and clipped the fly off my leader and gave it to him. He was shocked and so appreciative. Whether he caught a fish or not, I'm sure he went home feeling better about becoming a fly fisherman.

 

[Old Man]

Every time I met somebody new on what ever skinny water I happened to be on at the time, I would give them a fly that I know worked on that water. I came across a fly fisher on the Sauk one time. He had his fly rod leaning against his car. I thought he was resting so I stopped to bullshit with him. Come to find out he was just changing his flat tire and the fly rod was in the way so he just moved it to where he could get at his spare. He thanked me and said that him and his wife were just out for a ride. I told him to try that fly. I don't know if he did as I never saw him again.

 

[headduck]

As that confused guy on the bank. Thanks yall.

I watch and learn and inquire and am always appreciative to find folks like yourself...giving humans a good name...

 

[Xoxo]

i love these stories! (Especially the kid with the zip tie still on his rod.). I can’t think of any time a stranger helped me but it that might be because a guy would be afraid to approach a woman. While I never fished alone, i was usually never in close proximity of the guys I was with.

I did get lots of good help, before a trip from the guys at The Morning Hatch.

 

[Dave G]

There by the grace of other fisher folk... Fly fishing by nature is a solitary sport, and without someone more experienced and knowledgeable I'm left with a lousy teacher (me). It's one thing to read and watch videos about technique, fly selection and reading water, but quite another to remember and integrate it into daily practice.

To everyone who has stepped forward and offered me advice: Thank you! It has been much appreciated! Any time I can pay it back (or forward) I do.

 

[Old Man]

Self taught here also. But I was out there before the internet and U tube. I had to learn the hard way. But I've turned into a pretty good caster. But along the way I did a lot of losing flies to the trees and bushes. And sometimes just dropping them. The small ones seem to just disappear in the grass or gravel.

 

[Bagman]

I was lucky I met a very nice lady that taught me a lot about fishing for salmon in the sound. Then she just dropped out of my life, and well before I could at least once out fish her. Then I met a fellow fly fisherman, and we fished together for 2 years Before he ended up going pro on me, I can’t begin to tell you what I learned from him. if you ever get a change to fish with this guy I would tell you to jump on it after two years of fishing for coho with him I can’t remember ever out fishing him. Oh ya his name is Nick Clayton if you haven’t guessed by now.

 

[ThomasM]

I've been on both sides of this - giving advice/flies, etc. as well as receiving. The magic really happens when both sides are open and see the value in sharing without ego getting in the way.

Bad example - walking back to my truck on an OP river I know really well, a father and son from out of state were rigging up their spey rods (maybe 50's and 20's respectively). The son asks me how it went. Given they were out of state and didn't seem to know the area very well, I started to tell them exactly where I knew there were at least a couple fish holding that could be gotten to with a swung fly. The father looked at the centerpin rig I was holding, and didn't even acknowledge me as he said "let's go" and walked away before I started to talk (of course there were two complete spey rigs in the back of my truck). So I kept that potentially shared info and hooked and lost a nice winter run on the swing in the spot I was going to share two days later...

Amazing example - not knowing anything about salmonfly fishing, I went down to the Deschutes for a board meeting a number of years back at a friend-of-a-friend's family ranch that had river frontage. I went a day early to camp by the river (that night train sucks) and fish on my own before meeting the others at the ranch. Throughout the day on my own fishing upstream of Maupin, I saw a few salmon flies and caught a couple fish, got hot, tired and wondered what was so great about salmonfly fishing on the Deschutes.

I met the guys at the house, took a shower and sat on the back deck of the house with a beer as we BS'd and caught up on fishing stories from the winter. Right before dusk, one of the party who is a bit older (and much wiser) than me asked to see my fly box. I showed him and his response to all my big foam flies was "Hmmm". He pulled out his fly box, handed me a traditional looking fly and gave it to me saying "I like this one, it's called a Norm Wood Special". The he looked outside and said, "You should put your waders back on and try this fly right over there pointed to a grassy bank". I said, "Nah, I'm tired, done for the day and this salmonfly stuff is all hype". He just looked at me and said again "You need to put your waders on, take this fly and fish right over there" with some uncharacteristic firmness. I asked if he was coming and he said he'd finish his beer and I could tell him about it when I got back and to watch out for 'jingle worms'.

So I did. It was the most amazing 45min of trout fishing I'll probably ever experience. Almost every cast resulted in a very large and fat redband up in the 18" range. Toward the end it got dark so I was just setting when I heard a spash and it was usually a hookup. There were salmonflies everywhere in that grassy bank including crawling all over me. The fly he gave me was totally bedraggled when I got back.

I asked him about the fly and he said, "Yeah, that's a good one. My friend Norm (Wood) was a guide here for a long time and gave me a bunch before he died but I only have a couple left". After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I thanked him again and thought hard about the lesson in generosity I just learned.

 

[Flymph]

He will make you "Fly"fishers of men (and women). While fishing an evening rise to some very large green drakes a young teenager dropped by. Gave hime one of my crude Drake imitations. He thanked me and offered to pay but I told him it was a favor for allowing me to fish in his neck of the woods. He soon caught an acrobatic rainbow and was quite excited. I quit fishing, sat down on the bank, and enjoyed watching him catch a few wild rainbows. It reminded me of earlier times watching my own son's smile as he hooked and played another fish.

 

[Northern]

i love these stories! (Especially the kid with the zip tie still on his rod.). I can’t think of any time a stranger helped me but it that might be because a guy would be afraid to approach a woman. While I never fished alone, i was usually never in close proximity of the guys I was with.

I did get lots of good help, before a trip from the guys at The Morning Hatch.

There's actually been an interesting shift in on-water chatting up over the last 10 years, from a female perspective.
Here's a very typical story from a decade ago, for example:
First time at Rocky Ford, alone, standing on the bank near the upper bridge just watching the water and rigging my rod up. A guy walks onto the bridge, and immediately begins giving me advice - on flyfishing in general, on casting, rigging, on what RF fish like. Mind you, I haven't said much other than how ya doing, nor have I even made a cast...but he goes on mansplaining for probably ten minutes. He's nice about it and I'm amused, so I listen. He finally comes around to "So how long have you been fly fishing?"
I replied with a pleasant "About ten years. I've never fished here before, though, so thanks for the tips - I'll try a scud!"
That was kinda the norm up until a few years ago.

Nowadays, it is not at all unusual for guys at the launch or beach to ask me what's working, or other things that indicate that they believe I at least potentially know what I'm doing. I feel like it's a genuine culture change and not just that I look older now, and so by extension must be wiser!

I admit I seldom start conversations on the water, but if somebody asks - especially if I know they've been watching me catch when they're not - I absolutely offer them honest advice and a fly or two that are working.
I know I've asked multiple bass fishers how it's going this spring, but the answers have been fairly mournful in tone and content

 

[Tom Butler]

I have been watching and asking questions this year to learn something new, and the others have been just as curious as my success. Lots of really nice folks out on the lake.

 

[Xoxo]

There's actually been an interesting shift in on-water chatting up over the last 10 years, from a female perspective.
Here's a very typical story from a decade ago, for example:
First time at Rocky Ford, alone, standing on the bank near the upper bridge just watching the water and rigging my rod up. A guy walks onto the bridge, and immediately begins giving me advice - on flyfishing in general, on casting, rigging, on what RF fish like. Mind you, I haven't said much other than how ya doing, nor have I even made a cast...but he goes on mansplaining for probably ten minutes. He's nice about it and I'm amused, so I listen. He finally comes around to "So how long have you been fly fishing?"
I replied with a pleasant "About ten years. I've never fished here before, though, so thanks for the tips - I'll try a scud!"
That was kinda the norm up until a few years ago.

Nowadays, it is not at all unusual for guys at the launch or beach to ask me what's working, or other things that indicate that they believe I at least potentially know what I'm doing. I feel like it's a genuine culture change and not just that I look older now, and so by extension must be wiser!

I admit I seldom start conversations on the water, but if somebody asks - especially if I know they've been watching me catch when they're not - I absolutely offer them honest advice and a fly or two that are working.
I know I've asked multiple bass fishers how it's going this spring, but the answers have been fairly mournful in tone and content

I love that story on the RF!

 

[Stonedfish]

I've been on both sides of this - giving advice/flies, etc. as well as receiving. The magic really happens when both sides are open and see the value in sharing without ego getting in the way.

Bad example - walking back to my truck on an OP river I know really well, a father and son from out of state were rigging up their spey rods (maybe 50's and 20's respectively). The son asks me how it went. Given they were out of state and didn't seem to know the area very well, I started to tell them exactly where I knew there were at least a couple fish holding that could be gotten to with a swung fly. The father looked at the centerpin rig I was holding, and didn't even acknowledge me as he said "let's go" and walked away before I started to talk (of course there were two complete spey rigs in the back of my truck). So I kept that potentially shared info and hooked and lost a nice winter run on the swing in the spot I was going to share two days later...

Amazing example - not knowing anything about salmonfly fishing, I went down to the Deschutes for a board meeting a number of years back at a friend-of-a-friend's family ranch that had river frontage. I went a day early to camp by the river (that night train sucks) and fish on my own before meeting the others at the ranch. Throughout the day on my own fishing upstream of Maupin, I saw a few salmon flies and caught a couple fish, got hot, tired and wondered what was so great about salmonfly fishing on the Deschutes.

I met the guys at the house, took a shower and sat on the back deck of the house with a beer as we BS'd and caught up on fishing stories from the winter. Right before dusk, one of the party who is a bit older (and much wiser) than me asked to see my fly box. I showed him and his response to all my big foam flies was "Hmmm". He pulled out his fly box, handed me a traditional looking fly and gave it to me saying "I like this one, it's called a Norm Wood Special". The he looked outside and said, "You should put your waders back on and try this fly right over there pointed to a grassy bank". I said, "Nah, I'm tired, done for the day and this salmonfly stuff is all hype". He just looked at me and said again "You need to put your waders on, take this fly and fish right over there" with some uncharacteristic firmness. I asked if he was coming and he said he'd finish his beer and I could tell him about it when I got back and to watch out for 'jingle worms'.

So I did. It was the most amazing 45min of trout fishing I'll probably ever experience. Almost every cast resulted in a very large and fat redband up in the 18" range. Toward the end it got dark so I was just setting when I heard a spash and it was usually a hookup. There were salmonflies everywhere in that grassy bank including crawling all over me. The fly he gave me was totally bedraggled when I got back.

I asked him about the fly and he said, "Yeah, that's a good one. My friend Norm (Wood) was a guide here for a long time and gave me a bunch before he died but I only have a couple left". After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I thanked him again and thought hard about the lesson in generosity I just learned.

Funny how some fly anglers look down on gear anglers. There are some great anglers who have never picked up a fly rod. They are super people as well. It isn’t like most people who fly fish didn’t gear fish first.
Out on the beaches here there are some super knowledgeable gear anglers. They are generally older retired guys and they fish multiple times per week. They have great knowledge as to what is happening.
Some fly anglers refuse to chat them up which is their loss.
There used to be a old guy name John who fished a popular MA 9 beach daily. He fished both flies and gear.
He would bring a lawn chair down to the beach to relax in when he wasn’t fishing.
You’d walk by him first thing in the morning and say hello. He’d say hello then name a time, like “11:00”. You can rest assured a bite would happen at that time.
Simple but damn effective information.
SF

 

[Wanative]

Circa late seventies, I'm a newb with little experience, my steelhead flyfishing know how consisting of what I'd read in Trey Combs's Steelhead Flyfishing and Flys and some pointers from Jerry Wells, salesman at H&H Sporting Goods in Bellingham.
Jerry had sold me an outfit consisting of a Fenwick glass 9' 9wt. with a fighting butt. A Cortland 10' fast sinking tip line was spooled on my new Hardy St. John.
Armed with some Black Marabous, Skunks, Burlaps, Spades and General Practitioners I was styling and raring to go.
I made several trips to the Fortson hole as at that time it always held good numbers of summer Steelhead. I'd drive up and fish the evening and sleep in or by my car and be on the river at O'dark thirty
Waiting for sunrise.
I could cast well enough to fish but wasn't sure which direction to cast or how or when to mend the line. Basically I didn't know if I was actually fishing or in the words of John Geirach just standing in the river waving a stick.
One day mid morning an older gentleman appeared on the high bank opposite the bar I was wading from.
I was fishing a Spade fly and having no luck other than the occasional smolt pecking my size 6 Spade.
The gent asked how I was doing. I gave him the sad news of "no good, I'm new at steelhead flyfishing."
I asked him to critique my fishing, cast, mending etc. as he looked like he knew how to fish. He even had a stripping basket.
He said said he thought I was fishing effectively and to keep putting in the time and the fish would come.
That made me feel real good.
He asked what fly I was using.
I replied "a Spade fly."
He chuckled at my answer, and replied "my name is Bob Arnold and I designed
the Spade fly."
You could have knocked me over with a feather. Here I am a rookie in the presence of and receiving guidance from a legend, steelhead royalty, at least in this rookies mind. I mean he has a named fly in a book I own that chronicles the history of Steelhead flyfishing on the west coast and Washington state in particular.
It was a red letter day in my life and development as flyfisher. One of those memories indelibly imprinted on my psyche.
I didn't catch a fish that day or even soon after that. I did eventually though and even caught some on a Spade thanks to Bob Arnold.
Thanks for reading.
Fred