Fly Fishing Is Fun.

By TLS

I started fly fishing when I was probably somewhere around 12. Nobody I knew fly fished but I wanted to do it anyway. In movies it looked fun and interesting.

So I saved up what little money I would get and I bought a fly rod at a small local tackle store. Then I bought a reel. Later I bought some line. Where I shopped did not cater to fly fishing and did not stock ‘good’ stuff. I was so young and knew so little that I ended up buying a 7 weight rod and 8 weight line. To those who don’t know fly fishing, to say this was a workout would be an understatement. But I still enjoyed it.

I fly fished off and on until my early 30s. I still knew nothing about the sport and only used TV and movies as my reference source. I never once caught a fish on that fly rod combo. Amazingly I didn’t get discouraged or disgruntled with my poor fly fishing outcomes and I would fly fish any chance I got. Eventually though, I just got too busy to do much fishing at all.

Recently, now that I’m approaching my mid-fifties, I’ve decided to start fly fishing again. Now though I have a little better idea of what I’m doing, also I can now afford much better equipment. This time I bought a nice Moonshine Drifter II, 4 weight fly rod with a comparable reel and some nice 4 weight line. I haven’t yet had time or the opportunity to fly fish any rivers or streams but we were recently at a lake where I was able to break out the kit and give it a try. It’s a little cumbersome fly fishing in a lake from a good size boat but it was still enjoyable.

One of these days I hope to have some time and opportunity to find a nice stream somewhere. Put on my nice wader’s and head out into the water and pretend like I know what I’m doing. Who knows maybe this time over the next decade or two I might actually catch a fish.

If you’ve ever picked up a hobby, set it down, and found yourself drawn back years later, share your story. What called you back? And did it feel different the second time around?