Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Day 73 - Uncoordinated

Before I begin, I promised that I would show pictures of the fly that I tied to today if I was semi-successful at the pattern that I had in mind. Well, today I added another fly to the crap jar. It was an ugly monstrosity of a thing that I do not want to remember. Seriously, that fly was nothing to look at. In fact it was just plain ugly, and not ugly in a fishable way. So... no pictures (the camera would have broke if I tried to take a picture). On the plus side, I did read about a guy that had to practice daily for almost 2 years to get good at it. Hmmm... that sounds like another blog possibility, but maybe not one that I'm willing to tackle.

Maybe the reason why I'm having so much trouble with this pattern is that I'm uncoordinated. I can't walk and chew gum at the same time. My dance moves are limited to mimicking the gopher on Caddyshack, and I no longer try to clap to the beat of a song. I suck. This could be the reason that team sports was never my forte as I would inevitably try to kick the ball and end up performing a Charlie Brown back flop.

I've grown to accept this quirk, and I think my wife has accepted the idea that I will never really truly honestly be able to dance with her. Yet despite this uncoordination, I do try. And I've managed to be able to cast a fly with some sort of precision. I would like to say that I perform this rudimentary fly fishing skill with grace, however I doubt it sometimes. The rod feels clunky in my hands on occasion and I end up getting wind knots more than I like (but less than I used to).

There are occasions though when fate whispers encouragingly to me. When I can feel the back cast load in the rod, where I can keep that load in the rod until I suddenly snap on the forward cast. And then... perfection. When a cast is done correctly, and the line shoots out like an arrow and the fly lands ever so softly to kiss the water... amazing grace how sweet it is. Mmmm... I can just picture it now in my mind and my heart beats a little slower.

I think this is one of the reason that I pursue fly fishing so much. When I can achieve a cast with such perfection, I suddenly don't feel so inept. I may never be able to dance like Fred Astaire, or throw a baseball well, or even play anything more than Greensleeves on my tin whistle. I'm tone deaf and can't carry a beat. I used to play the trumpet years ago (poorly I might add). But with fly fishing, I think I can truly find my grace.

1 comment:

  1. Grace and Fly Fishing are two in the same. I'm glad you discovered yours.

    P.S. I haven't gone comment crazy, or spamming you tonight, this is just my version of catching up~

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