Most of the new breed of Warren-Miller-inspired fly-fishing films feature anglers catching monster fish, often in exotic locales, over a driving soundtrack. And I love watching these videos as much as the next guy, dreaming about catching those fish. But it’s also nice to see someone shooting gorgeous footage of “regular guy” fly fishing. This short clip from Climate Wisconsin has a serious message about rising water temperatures, but it’s also just a great glimpse of the pleasures of the fly-fishing life. Guide Peter Cozad is eloquent in his description of what fly fishing means to him.
What does the sport mean to you?
Peter Cozad’s short vignette on small streams aroused the key reason why I love to fly fish them. First, small water is intimate; it immerses you in a relatable scale that is at once calming from the often ‘way too wide’ field of space we must work in daily, and exciting, due to the challenge of discipline to achieve far greater casting accuracy – if there’s ANY chance of putting the fly where it will be seen & be effective enticement. Small mountain streams are where I learned to fly fish, teaching myself sidearm, bow & arrow and reach, or puddle, casts. It’s where I readily understood WHY you need to slowly analyze soft vs. hard braids of current and thereby the possible feeding lies for the fish. Small streams are what bring me back to a ‘right-sized’ environment, making the 8″ brook trout a trophy, in scale with its environs. Good vibes, a constant source of hope at every run, riffle & back eddy swirling under overhanging willows. Thanks Peter! This brought over half a century fishing many varied waters back to where I am the most at peace & comfortable.