Memoirs of a Fly Fishing Initiate Written by Jared Chatterton
I’m not one to express myself via the written word. Justin pressured me into writing this monologue. He is also the one that pressured me into a fly fishing obsession. Because of this, he has become my wife’s worst enemy. I get the “you’re going fishing again” look on a regular basis. I justify my disassociation by saying, “honey, I am fulfilling my fatherly furnishing responsibilities by providing food for the family.” I haven’t kept one yet. Of course, I need to catch one big enough to filet. My wife thinks that all of my catches are 10 inchers. There is something about fly fishing that is hard to describe. It is much more than a process or activity. Of course, the captive moment occurs when you set the hook into the lips of a large trout and gently, yet forcefully, bring it towards you as if you just beguiled the fish with your conquering mental and physical capacities. It feels good. It makes all of us stupid men feel really smart.
Even when you get skunked, you still have fun. Here is my list of why fly fishing is more than the catch:
1. Watching your abnormally uncoordinated friends fall flat on their face in the middle of a swift moving river. It makes you LOL every time.
2. Consuming massive quantities of sunflower seeds. The river makes for a perfect shell receptacle. They also make a perfect alarm clock telling you it is time to go home when the oral seed sores start to hurt.
3. You can donate $4 worth of flies to an overhanging tree branch in a single cast and you don’t even care; yet we are quick say “no” when the nice lady at Wal-Mart asks us to donate $1 to the Primary Children’s Hospital. It must be the pleasant atmosphere that puts you in such a good mood.
4. Trying to get to the next fishing good fishing hole. This usually requires hiking through thick brush and swamp land. You wouldn’t chase your favorite dog into some of this treacherous territory yet the terrain is a paved parkway when a prospective fishing hole might be around the corner.
5. Unfortunately, you sometimes have to share the river with others. You have never met any of these people in your life, yet you are all BFF (best friends forever). We all share the exact same social status and title: angler. Certainly my discourse wouldn’t be complete without some pictures. Here are a couple lousycell phone shots of my most recent trip to the lower portion of the Logan River. There is a white fish which is the most annoying fish ever. I wonder what I could do to prevent myself from catching so many of those. The other is a typical rainbow. I added the reel for professional affect. (pictures above)
When I picked up Mark, one of my clients for the day, from Park City the sky was dark grey and alive with bright flashes of gold and loud crashes of thunder. Hail and rain were falling and we both wondered what we were thinking. As we rounded the cut near Jordanelle Reservoir we noticed that the Heber Valley was awaiting us with clear skies. We began fishing around 9:00 and the catching began around 9:10. The day started off quickly with fish prefering a size 12 Hare’s Ear. I was a bit surprised since most of our fish on this stretch of river are rarely caught on flies larger than sixteens. The day continued to produce fish, but the bite turned to smaller flies which the Rainbow Warrior dominated. Fish were steadily caught until we left the river at 1:30. As we were leaving the wind picked up and the storm clouds began to roll in. This has been a common pattern this August, like every August in Utah, so the prefered time to fish is in the morning before afternoon storms roll in.
