An angler prepares to take advantage of a perfect day to fish the Bitterroot River near Florence.
It has been a lot of fun giving away flies for the past 25 years.
My latest giveaway was nine dozen flies and fly box for a local nonprofit that supports Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital. I am not looking for a pat on the back or a good job comment but I can tell you that I had a lot of personal pleasure in giving the flies away.
I have tied flies for almost 35 years although my first attempts at steelhead flies left a lot to be desired. I began with a fly tying lap top adaption that I would sit in the rocking chair and try to tie some flashy huge flies that almost anyone could tie even though they never had lessons.
I learned from a book and it took a few dozen before I could say to another fisherman that this pattern was a Ferndale and was proud to give it away to someone. The Ferndale doesn’t exist but for example purposes and the flies that I give away today are much better than they were while living in Washington.
To make matters worse, the steelhead fishing in Washington was so bad at that time that fishermen estimated that you would hook one fish every 8.5 hours of casting over and over again. Enough of that.
I googled free fly fishing stuff and came up with absolutely nothing that was free without doing something or paying for something before you would qualify for the free stuff. I learned that I could get a free fly rod if I signed up for a lifetime membership in Trout Unlimited.
At my age a lifetime membership doesn’t mean much and I don’t need a free fly rod. I also found one site that if I joined an organization to test fly fishing equipment, I could earn free stuff if I qualified. The free stuff wasn’t worth the time.
However, I did find a few things interesting. The average fly fishing person in any of the advertisements was about 25 years old and looked like bean poles (no pun intended). I would be willing to bet that not one of these models had ever cast a fly rod but they sure looked like they were having fun in their fly fishing shirts and shorts.
Another way to get a free fly rod is to sign up for a fly fishing trip with a specific guide service. The value of the rod is about $350 but the trip was over $5,000 and was only for three or four days fishing. I think I could do better myself and have at least $1,000 to spend on another fly rod and some other equipment that is wearing out.
Fishing on the Bitterroot is excellent and if you haven’t fished this week you missed a lot. The bright sunny days have put the fish down a little but if you get out early or later in the evening you should catch some good fish.
Good Fishing,
Bill Bean.
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July 20, 2020 at 03:02AM
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Early or late is time to fish the Bitterroot - Ravalli Republic
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