Fishing and Lessons Learned in The Process

Fishing is a pastime I enjoy. I started fishing when I was a boy. I have fished on and off since then. I fly fish now, but used spin cast tackle growing up. I am not a great fisherman. I have been out many times and not caught anything. I do like standing on a shore looking over the water, attempting to be quiet and still.

There are many different methods of catching fish. There is live bait that you put on a hook. The bait is commonly worms but can be small fish as well. There are also artificial lures and flies. These come in many varieties. They are meant to imitate foods naturally found in the fishes habitat.

In fly fishing there are dry flies that float and wet flies that sink. You use wet flies with sinking line to fish the bottom of a stream or lake. There is also floating line for which you use dry flies and fish the water's surface. I believe the common perception of fly fishing is with dry flies in a trout stream.

I fish lakes and streams with my fly rod. I catch bass and trout amongst other fishes. I enjoy fishing for all types of fish. My favorite fish to catch is a rainbow trout. They are quite beautiful.

The most rainbows I ever caught over an extended period of time was when I was 22. This was when I first really got into fly fishing. I had a fly rod from age 12 but didn't know how to use it well. That summer I got a book on fly fishing. I studied and fished several times a week. I did my fishing in a small stream right in the middle of town. I waded in the stream fly casting in a pair of running shoes. I didn't wear waders and I purchased my flies at a hardware store. The rod I used was the same rod as I had when I was 12. It truly was simplicity at its finest. 

Years later I decided to pick up fly fishing again. This time I thought I should get all the equipment I thought I needed. I purchased waders and a new rod. I got my flies tied by a fishing guide in the area. I spent hundreds on all of this. I believe I caught one trout that year.

I like my new rod. I also have fond memories of just fishing in a stream wearing running shoes. I believe things can be a lot simpler than what we often make them out to be. I have learned that making use of what you have can be just as rewarding as getting what you want.