While I don’t have any data to back this up, I’d be willing to bet that 95 percent of the fly-fishing tackle in California is seldom used. Talk about selling dreams. Despite numerous advances in fly-fishing gear, a lot of us don’t seem to be spending more time on the water. Admittedly, work, family, and illness will often make fishing impractical, unwise, or impossible, but I suspect that for many of us, there’s sometimes a more insidious problem — ourselves.
Even when we have the time, we can find excuses not to go fishing or to get a late start. I have caught myself doing this on numerous occasions, and I have friends who are so good at it that they almost never go fishing. We know fishing provides numerous health benefits, and as the corny bumper sticker points out, a bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work, so why would we sabotage our health and happiness? I thought it might be helpful to ask other fly fishers if they make excuses and what, if anything, they do about it. Based on this survey, it seems excuses come in four basic flavors: crowds, distractions, familiarity, and fitness (or the lack thereof).
Crowds
Almost everyone I contacted said crowds are a big reason they choose not to go fishing. I certainly have a marked aversion to hordes of humans. One chap stated, “I fish in part for the intimate connection with the natural world that solitude brings. Why go fishing if I’m going to end up bumping shoulders with other anglers?” Another said, “ My latest excuse is no way on a weekend when there are so many users on the water.” Whether it’s the competition for limited water or a desire to be alone, crowds can definitely make fly fishing less pleasurable. There’s no denying that the banks of the state’s best-known rivers can sometimes seem as crowded as a Bangladeshi train station.
So what’s a fly fisher to do? One option is to seek out sections of water that others do not fish. While the throngs jockey for position on every stretch of Euro-nymphing water, other sections will often be sparsely populated. As Jim Zech pointed out in “Song About DryFly Fishing” (California Fly Fisher, September/October 2020), “if you look for waters where a dry fly properly presented will produce, you will find yourself having a really good day on the water, and doing it with less people around.” Swinging streamers through deep waters or dropping a weighted crawdad at the top of a plunge pool are also great ways to avoid the hordes and can connect you with fish that will sometimes blow your mind.
Another alternative is to fish the popular river’s less hammered tributaries. A short hike off the main stem can get you away from the wadered masses and casting flies to fish that may not have seen another human in days, weeks, or even years. You’ll likely see a lot more wildlife and a lot less trash, too.
For some, the need to escape the crowds results in fishing waters that don’t hold trout. While certainly not everyone’s cup of tea, ponds, lakes, and the surf can all provide exciting and challenging sport with virtually no one around to harsh your buzz. This has been my way of avoiding people for many, many years.
Distractions
With all the conveniences of modern life, we seldom go fishing to put food on the table. Instead, this recreational activity has primarily become a way to generate feelings of elation, excitement, or tranquility. These emotions are the conscious manifestation of neurotransmitters released by the brain in anticipation of a reward, often referred to as a “dopamine high.” This powerful neurochemistry evolved to ensure we do things that keep us alive and in the gene pool. Given that water is essential for life and fish are food, it’s perhaps not surprising that fishing is a good way to get a dopamine fix. Unfortunately, this reward system can be hijacked. Drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine tap into the system, sometimes with devastating consequences. Researchers have found that methamphetamine can produce dopamine levels 10 times higher than sex. No wonder it’s so addictive.
But there’s a much better way to access and commandeer your reward system than getting you to swill, snort, smoke, vape, or shoot up. The eyes are a part of the brain that protrudes through the skull. This makes them an almost instantaneous way to access the brain. They’re powerful, too. With a bandwidth of almost 10 megabits per second, your eyes are effectively a high-speed Internet connection to your brain. This fact has not gone unnoticed by people who want to influence your behavior.
For many folks, the Internet, and in particular social media, have become a significant part of daily life. Guess what — this is no accident. As a founding president of a well-known social media company stated, these websites are designed to “consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible.” Their sophisticated algorithms are formulated to activate the brain’s reward system. This means fly fishing is competing for your time with an industry that employs 26.4 million very smart people and generates an annual return of $20.5 trillion. That’s David against an immense army of Goliaths.
I don’t use social media, but I do spend a not-insignificant amount of time online. It doesn’t stop me from going fishing, but I have noticed it can eat into time I typically devote to getting gear ready. Others experience a more direct effect. One respondent stated that “social media checks were often combined with checking emails and the online daily newspaper. If I’m not careful, it could be almost lunch time before I realize it.”
An obvious solution is to strictly limit time online when you’d like to go fishing. Make a commitment to focus solely on actions that get you out of the door and on the water. One angler told me, “I have had some success in having a single pack ready to go that contains everything I need.” I have a similar system based on plastic totes and a rack of prerigged rods. These are placed in the garage, so loading the car takes just seconds.
One of my confidants had a distraction that I also shared as a young man. He said, “For a long time, other obligations got in the way too, I played soccer and other sports and raced cars. Too many hobbies made it hard to choose the one I worked at every day.” This particular angler solved his problem by moving very close to the Madison River. Clearly, this isn’t an option for most folks. If you have lots of hobbies, perhaps the key is to be aware of the days when fishing will provide the best reward, such as a specific hatch or run, and commit to fish during that window of time.
Another approach is to make a commitment to others. As one angler admitted, “I’m finding that if I don’t have planned trips involving others, I’m less likely to follow through. I get distracted by something at home and I miss the tide, or sometimes, in the case of shad this year, an entire season.” If you find you can’t keep a commitment with a friend, consider the possibility that f ly fishing may not really be your thing. Maybe you are happier using conventional spin gear or simply relaxing in a chair watching a bobber. The point is to go fishing. You can always bring a fly rod along in case the water starts boiling with rising trout.
Familiarity
In addition to providing dopamine highs, our brains are also very good at hardwiring regular activities so they become habits. Indeed, researchers have found that more than 40 percent of our daily actions are based on habit. Once something becomes routine, the brain tends to mute the reward system. An obvious example is the daily commute. How often do you feel elated or tranquil sitting in traffic?
Fly fishing can also become a habit. Some people thrive on routines and find repetition relaxing and pleasurable. One angler recounted his experience with just such a fellow. “An old man when I knew him, he lived in town and would drive out every Thursday, rain, shine, any season, to fish a particular lake. He never even thought about conditions.” If this sounds like the perfect setup, consider yourself blessed. For many of us, a bit more variety is the spice of fly-fishing life.
Perhaps the easiest way to develop a fly-fishing habit is to stick with a technique because you know it works and you are good at it. Before long, you find yourself simply going through the motions. The tug of a fish no longer sends that wonderful “zing” through your nerves. As someone who lives close to one of the state’s premiere fly-fishing rivers stated, “I know what’s going to happen on the water, so why even go out?” He went on to say, “There have been periods when I’ve had very little interest in fishing, or at least in doing the ‘same old same old.’ ”
Fortunately, fly fishing provides lots of solutions for this particular excuse. For starters, there’s no reason to do the “same old same old.” There are loads of different ways to fish flies. Some are variations on a theme, such as the different styles of nymphing. This may be all you need to keep the dopamine f lowing. If not, consider bolder changes in gear and technique. These can take you right out of your comfort zone and force you to learn the water all over again. As the guy who knew what’s going to happen told me, “I’m going through such a period right now, stimulated largely by a reinterest in tying flies spurred in part by ‘new’ techniques like tenkara and Euro-nymphing and by my rediscovery of old techniques like wet flies.”
Another way to break the habit is to fish new waters. You can make a quick trip to a nearby creek or pond or set aside a day or two to go farther afield. Even if you employ your usual techniques, the water will be different, which should produce some decent dopamine hits. The change of scenery can also reinvigorate the fishing at your home waters. As one angler mentioned, “I’m realizing that I get recharged from an occasional road trip that helps maintain my routine fishing.”
You may have to overcome some internal resistance. One fly fisher noted, “It’s easy for me to forgo exploration, even locally, when I know that I can have success with my normal routines. It gets especially bad when I haven’t fished in a bit and I would rather not risk not catching any fish at all.”
If the idea of fishing new techniques or waters is slightly uncomfortable, take heart, you’re not alone. I have fought this demon on many occasions. Fly selection appears to be a common cause of exploration angst. Thankfully, it is often overblown. As the poor guy who lives close to the Madison points out, “I think it’s very common for younger fly anglers to put too much importance on the fly, especially if they tie. I sure did. I knew the secret was out there, I just had to find it. Now I know that presentation/drift is more important, and that simplified life for me.”
Fitness
While fly fishing isn’t a particularly physical sport, it does require a bit more effort than drinking beer or clicking on Facebook. Hiking to a fishing spot, wading, casting, and hiking back out again requires a certain amount of stamina. Discovering that you barely have enough strength to walk back to the car tends to detract from the actual fishing experience. And then there’s stuff such as dodgy knees and hips or problems with balance that indicate your body has passed its initial warranty period. Bottom line: you won’t get many dopamine hits if your body is telling you “This sucks.”
There’s also the issue of safety to consider. As the chap who didn’t want to bump shoulders with other anglers noted, “Countering the desire for solitude is the fact I’m getting older and now think it’s wiser to go fishing with someone else, rather than alone.”
The good news is getting fit enough doesn’t have to be a chore. Obviously, anyone with a medical or physical limitation should contact their doctor before starting an exercise program. But don’t let the old “no pain, no gain” mantra become an excuse to remain in the recliner. Sports physiologists have discovered that endurance athletes benefit from a lot of low-intensity training. This is also true for those of us who just want to be able to walk a bit farther or feel more secure in the water. There’s really no need to go to a gym and have a shredded twentysomething exhort you to keep your heart pumping like a machine gun. Just get outside and walk a few miles or find a swimming pool and do a few laps. A few weeks of walking or swimming can make a huge difference in your fishing success.
A fellow with decades of experience float tubing on big lakes recently moved to the mountains. These days, he fishes the local rivers and streams, which make different demands on his legs and balance. He observed, “I was reluctant to fish the river, initially, since I hadn’t done much wade fishing recently. However, once I plowed through it and worked to regain my balance and worked out more to enhance my conditioning, I was good to go.” Every month or so, I get an email from him telling me how great his fishing has been. He says, “The reason I have been getting such great fishing in the river is the fact that I must hike in about a mile (packing my waders and boots). I have yet to see another fly fisherman, or gear fisherman, for that matter!”
I’m not naïve enough to assume this article will stop us making excuses. The truth is, there will always be days when inertia wins. But there’s really no reason why most of us can’t get out on the water more often. With a little effort, you can find solitude, an escape from the Internet, a new way to fish, or just get a bit fitter. You may even catch some fish.
