Hey Dr Doug: You certainly have a way with words, and the
turn of a phrase. When will you publish your book on
fly-tying/fishing? I like the way you write.
Larry Johnson
>>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 02/20/03 04:10PM >>>
Deb,
On one of the first of many, many trips I made to the
Gunnison, two
things happened.
First of all, the owner of the campground where we
would eventually
always stay took pity on me and helped my rig my rod
properly; which meant
replacing my 10 ft., 6 lb. test tippet with a tapered
leader, showing me how
to tie a "hopper/dropper" rig and showing me which two
flies to use: and
adams and a renegade. He mentioned that he tied his own
renegades.
Second, a very old man ran a very small fly shop in the
back of a
convenience store/gas station. Old Man Berfield. I
wandered in there one
day and watched as he tied fly after fly. Eyesight shot,
arthritic hands,
temper worse than a rabid dog in heat! He tolerated me
watching and ignored
any/all questions. Maybe he was deaf - or just had
selective hearing?
Being in my early thirties at the time - and invincible - I
thought to
myself, if that old man can do it, so could I. I made a
note to pursue it.
My first attempt was with the cheapest fly tying kit you
could imagine! I
broke the vise within two weeks! My first fly was an
adams! Bought a kit
that used to be available that had everything in it you
needed to tie a
dozen adams.
I learned proportions only when a guide/friend in Gunnison
had the courage
to tell me that even though my flies caught as many trout
as his, there was
such a thing as proportions. Probably both wings ought to
be about the same
size on a fly, and the same color. It would be good if the
tail was less
than three times the length of the hook shank. Probably
ought to use dry
fly hackle on a dry fly; it's ok for the hackle to extend
backwards past the
point of the hook on a wet fly, but it just isn't "classic"
on an adams!
The difference between sewing thread and 3/0 or 6/0 thread.
You know,
technical stuff like that.
I bought my first pattern book on one of those trips.
Imagine! Someone
actually had a formula for flies!
I fished the Gunnison for about 10 consecutive years.
The thrird or
fourth trip, I even bought waders and graduated out of
tennis shoes. My
feet will never recover, though. I rarely fished anything
other than a
renegade and an adams. Sometimes I would tie the renegade
at the end.
Other times, feeling more rebellious, the adams was the
caboose.
Flowing like the streams and rivers of the Gunnison,
time drifted on.
Old Man Berfield sold out and then went to fish in a more
divine place,
where his hands are no longer crippled and his hearing is
restored. The
campground owner retired and his son took over. Changes
were made. He
preferred long-term campers over short-term. We had to
find another place
to stay; although the original owner would fish wish me
from time to time.
The rest is history. As all unmedicated and untreated
obsessions go, I
just got sucked deeper and deeper. As more and more time
flows by, I feel
myself becoming Old Man Berfield. I tie more slowly, not
as passionately.
Sometimes visitors will ask me to tie a fly for them. I
have discovered
that my hearing seems to fail when I put a hook in the
vise. Maybe it's the
sound of a divine river that blocks out the noise.
