THE
PENDULAR
SWISH
OF
LINE
AND THE ZUZZ AND CLICKS OF THE WHIRLING
REEL.
L ETT I N G
LINE
O U T, B L A C K E X P E R T LY F L I C K S T H E F LY M E R E I N C H E S F R O M S H O R E .
one that Kiawah Island has become famous for. A tangle of
better position against the current. All is quiet but for Black’s
dolphins heave and roll along the sandy shore, appearing
line and reel and the faint sound of water lapping the boat.
from a distance like drunken sunbathers, feeding on mullet
“When they get in really skinny like that, slurping shrimp
they’ve skillfully managed to herd out of the water and onto
and hiding from the dolphins, we call it belly crawling,”
the beach. Moments before, they had launched their bodies—
Hillock whispers down from his perch on the platform.
some weighing as much as five hundred pounds—out of the
Movement catches my eye near the shore’s edge, amongst the
water and onto the shore in a feeding frenzy. It’s over in a
oyster beds. Was that a fin? Black has selected a light, shrimp-
flash.
patterned fly. Its lightness makes it harder to control in the
Hillock kills the engine and we drift towards the mouth
wind, but in the shallow water a heavy fly can make too big
of Penny Creek. Sandy Point, the easterly tip of Kiawah
of a splash, spooking the fish. (“I know that from personal
Island, is in the near distance. “You see that tailfin, Chris?”
history,” Black says with a laugh.)
Hillock hisses to his partner. In response, Black grabs his
And that’s the real art form of fly fishing—having both the
rod and climbs up onto the casting platform. Soon, the air
knowledge of the fish species to understand their changing
above comes alive with the familiar sounds of fly fishing:
diet and the skill to mimic what’s going on in the environment
the pendular swish of line and the zuzz and clicks of the
around them. The goal is to sneak the bait in. But there’s more
whirling reel. Letting line out, Black expertly flicks the fly
to it than just picking the right fly. “It’s about the strip,” Black
mere inches from shore. Behind me, Hillock climbs onto
tells me. The way the fisherman manipulates the fly through
the poling platform and expertly maneuvers the boat into a
the water matters. “Every crustacean does something a little
L EGE N D S MAG AZIN E 20 20
NO .
34
35