Fly Guy
Green River, Utah, 2001

The essence of fly fishing is to out-trout the trout. It isn't deceptiveness that is needed, nor a mastery of some formulaic set of rules. One must venture waist deep into the trout's element -- generally a mountain river -- and, by examining water conditions and understanding trout motivations, know exactly where and how to present the fly.

Trout face upstream. They station themselves where the greatest volume of insects (food) will float by, relative to the energy necessary to maintain their position in the river current and the visibility of the position to swooping predator birds. For example, an underwater ravine will narrow the water channel and concentrate the surface pattern into a rapid, steady conveyor belt of tasty insects. But to counteract the current and maintain one's position in such a location would require vast amounts of energy, and to do so mid-river would render one vulnerable to hawks. And so the trout searches: for the arc at which a fast current extends beyond a sheltered curving bank; for the underwater boulder behind which left and right tail-currents negate directional flow and above which surface movement is steady; for the river protuberance where, beneath tree cover, a back eddy swirl spins off flies like a centrifuge. For the trout, these choices are visceral; for the fly fisherman, they are analytical.

To be in the correct place, to proffer the correct fly (species, life cycle stage, size, color), to present the fly and line "naturally," to hook the trout that shows interest, to land the trout that is hooked -- these are the fly fisherman's challenge. To release the trout from hook, to cradle it facing upstream, to rock it gently back and forth to oxygenate its gills, to feel it gradually recover from the exhausting landing battle, to release it, to watch it swim off -- these are the fly fisherman's tradition. To do all this in a misty sunrise, in solitude, from a pine forest clearing -- these are the fly fisherman's joy.

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