Being a fly angler, you get to witness some really cool shit. Especially if you take the time to observe, listen, discover, and just be in the space. Let go of the need to catch fish, the focus, and just get lost in it.
It can take practice to disconnect in the world we live in today. I like to think that a big portion of my job is helping facilitate that disconnect and reconnect for people.
I am very fortunate in the things that I’ve got to see, hear, feel, and touch while taking in the experience of fly fishing. From the simple act of standing in front of almost 1000 year old trees in the high alpine lakes of the backcountry or the hidden swaths of the OP.
To amazing wildlife encounters with Moose in Idaho, Brown Bears in Alaska, Black Bears in Montana, to seeing gators of enormous size and beautiful stingrays, don’t even get me started on the birds. The eagles of Kechikan getting into the trash behind the pub, to diving seas birds for mullet indicating fish are near by, to hummingbird rituals in the conifer tree tops of Washington high country. The dolphins, snapping turtles, cardinals, herons, loons, elk, Bears, orcas, sea lions, are just some of the things I’ve got to witness. All have a special place in my memory.
I’ve seen awesome lighting storms, rocks the size of houses roll down a mountain, storms that lift trees from their roots, floods, and heavy flows in rivers that shake you to your core. The awe that the natural world has can be terrifying, alluring, and make you realize how insignificant you are. A true reality check. A reminder that we are but a small insect on this great ball of life rolling through space. It’s pretty fucken rad.
Insects, we got there eventually. As an angler you better get used to bugs. And I could get into the intricacies of a BWO hatch, or get into the October caddis life cycle, or when to fish for flying ants…but all I want to tell you about is a story about a bug hatch.
As anglers we know what a hatch is after a little time fishing. We are all chasing a good hatch of something in hopes of witnessing what I believe is the epitome of fly fishing. A trout, on a dry fly, during a hatch, on a river. It can be one of the easiest or one of the most frustrating things in angling. It is by far one of the best ways to catch any fish in my opinion. I’ve caught all sort in all sorts of ways. A dry fly eat from a wild trout has still yet to be beat for me.
There is a bug I have always loved. And it hatches during a wonderful time of year. The golden stonefly. An evening hatching, early summer time stonefly. Large, almost 2 inches long usually, bright yellow or burnt gold, they usually usher in the summer solstice.
Trout eat them as the evening sets in and the light changes. Willing to expose themselves for easy opportunity at easy food.
I was on a river in Idaho during this time a few seasons back. My partner and I were there for several days. We were floating a 13 mile stretch of river into the 10:30 pm. time frame. I think we took out just after 11 with a few other anglers worried we were gonna miss the ramp.
We had had a great day. Lots of fish. And we were just kind of vibing and floating. Not really fishing. It was just after 7pm. And we rolled up on a few other anglers in pontoons that were clearly waiting for something.
As we floated past them and back to a section we had to ourselves, the most amazing hatch happened. As the light fell behind the fir trees all the stoneflies that were residing in the branches descended from the tree limbs upon the river. Not just a few, not a hundred, thousands. Thousands of golden stoneflies hovered over the river and fell with soft plops and plurps.
Like golden fairies lit up from the alpine glows light of the mountain sunset. An occurrence that will not be missed. These bugs flittered and fluttered to the river surface. The water sliding them down it’s current. The next generation being put to the river while the birds and fish fed, a complete cycle of life happening in real time. It is a sight anglers. A true sight like the northern lights or fireflies for the first time.
We were so busy watching this amazing occurrence above our heads we didn’t notice the trout had also noticed and were smashing the ovipositing naturals.
We continued to just watch for a while. In 20 years, I can count on my hands how many times I’ve seen something like what we were in the midst of that evening. It may not have happened again like that for the rest of the hatch or even for several seasons. Of course we fished before it was over. But trust me just to be in the middle of it and just observe fish being fish. The river being a river, doing this natural phenomenon regardless of if it is witnessed.
It was rare, special, and something as anglers we kind of just wind up in the moment of. We chase it, and I dare say not for the fishing but to be one of the few individuals in a large world, that get to be a part of it…no matter our insignificance in its presence. The rivers will do without us, we have no bearing on how a river flows.
Truly, we learn we can dam them for a time but they can always break free if they move that way. They bring life and take it, we just step in and out, never remembered or forgotten, just welcomed and farwelled. Just to see it anglers. In a world that is in short clips, audio bytes, regurgitated garbage with a smidge of worthwhile content that may show us our humanity or our culture, the natural world holds secrets and awesome chaos, beautiful creations and moments that slip by unnoticed but worthwhile and meaningful. Even if they only impact the individual for that moment. These encounters are of substance, they matter, they are a hard line connection into space, our space, internally and externally.
Chase these moments anglers. I fear that these encounters get lost in the noise. Be still, quiet, and just be in the space. Put the phone away for the next few fish. Spend time with the natural a few seconds longer, with no motive but to be in the space and in that moment. For yourself, selfishly for yourself, take it for yourself, snatch it, hold it, feel it. Remember the smells, the light, the feeling in your body, what your thoughts bring forward. Fall into it, get lost in those waters.
See ya riverside anglers.
Tamarack
Tamarack's Guide Service 