FLUFF
SHUT UP ABOUT THE FLY FRESHLY RETURNED FROM A TRIP TO LESOTHO, FLY-TYING INSTRUCTOR AND AUTHOR GORDON VAN DER SPUY WOULD LIKE US ALL TO KNOW THAT WHAT’S ON THE END OF THE LINE IS ONLY 10% OF THE EQUATION. Photos. Owen Bruce
“Just seen your Facebook post about the fly from Lesotho. Thanks for letting us know about it when we were there.” I was heading back home from the Bokong River in Lesotho from what had undoubtedly been the best ten days fishing of my life, when I received this sarcastic WhatsApp message from one of the guys who had been in camp with us. My pal, fly-fishing guide Tim Rolston, was driving at the time. “Can you believe this?” I said to Tim, “This guy actually thinks he fished poorly because he didn’t apparently know about a fly I was fishing on the trip.” “You talking about that Spunwing Dun? “ Tim asked. “That’s the one,” I replied. “But you couldn’t shut up about that fly, it’s all you spoke about the entire time”. “My point exactly! He claims I didn’t tell them about it. Fuck, I even offered him one the second evening. Clearly he wasn’t paying attention at all.” “Well, I hate to break it to you, but you know you kind of dug your own grave with this one”, Tim said unsympathetically. “How so? I asked puzzled. “Well, you spoke so passionately about that fly the whole time that I don’t blame him for thinking that you had the silver bullet.” “But we all know that the fly is probably the last part of the puzzle in terms of one’s success rate,” I said. “There are a hundred things to consider before ever thinking about the fly.” Tim continued, “You and I know that, but most people think that the fly is the deciding factor in their eventual success. That’s why it’s easy to pin their lack of success on
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the fly they were using, because it allows them to ignore the fact that maybe their biggest hurdle in terms of catching fish, is their lack of understanding of what makes a fish eat a fly in the first place. Most ‘experts’ on social media are promoting the next best fly as opposed to explaining the detail behind the process of catching fish. You can’t blame inexperienced anglers for thinking that there are proverbial ‘silver bullets’. That’s the message being sent out all the time.” I’d never thought of it like that. Rolston had a good point, which he spent the next 10 hours in the car unpacking in extreme detail. Essentially what we discussed came down to the fact that fish eat good or optimal presentations. By making the fly itself your prime factor for success you choose to ignore the many other reasons why fish actually
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