Well Zen Leecher… This may sound like blasphemy but… The Dark Side has it's benefits… if catching fish is a sin… then I am guilty…

The joy of tying and casting an imitation of nature's great food source was taught to me at an early age… I was also taught that if you wish to spend a day fishing be a purist… if you wish to spend the day studying the water and it's inhabitants and then, use deceit and trickery to entice a fish to gorge upon your imitation in whatever way it is presented, you will spend the day catching!

I had a (heated) discussion one time with an older gentleman that tried to convince me that if you used anything but “Floating line, Un-weighted Flies, and a reel with no Drag” you were not a “True” fly fisherman. To this I replied “If you don't use the brain that the Creator gave you, to be creative, then the fish that swims, is smarter than you.”

I use the freedom of choice to decide how I will entice the fish, be it pure or not, to give me the thrill of a sudden pull, a run deep or far, the aerial exhibition of the fight, and then thanks and release.

I too am looking forward to coming months and the return to the Dark Side, and the other side of the Cascades!

Tight Lines

PS… I have used your name sake many a starlit night to fight with beasts of the deep! I would ask the Purists if using an imitation and darkness was a “True” fly fisherman. Ha

PSS… I only use a fishing buddy to find depths, and perhaps underwater structure or springs, the first time I fish a lake, then it stays at home.