Tenkara Angler - Fall 2019

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everything about fly fishing from Brad Pitt after watching, “A River Runs Through It”, but I didn’t. My first fish on my Pflueger fly rod was a bluegill taken from my brother-in-law’s farm pond. My next fish would come from the Caney Fork River in Middle Tennessee. Though not a romantic story, a line tangle landed my first trout, a brook trout.

it at my feet – my first trout! I was shocked and excited at the same time. I merely had to hand line it to the net. This fly fishing sure was easy!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAA

Frustrated with my casting, I had developed a terrible wind knot. A wind knot is just a kinder way of saying that I was a terrible fly caster. Blaming it on the wind sounds more respectable and philosophical. While standing in the stream trying to untangle the knot in my line, unbeknownst to me my black zebra midge had fallen in the water. I only realized what had happened when a seven-inch brook trout nabbed

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“Mend it, mend it, mend it some more. Now, big mend!” These repetitive words from the flyfishing guide rang through my mind all day and haunted me in the night. He meant well, but I was stressed from just trying to take care of all that fly line on the water. This was the only time I had used a fishing guide. Surely, it isn’t always this way. I knew about the drag-free drift. If the fly does not look natural or behave in a natural way, then the fish won’t take it. Proper line care is a fly fisherman’s best friend. But, wasn’t fly fishing supposed to be relaxing? It had started out that


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