Monday Morning
Shots Fired
Yes, I am taking a shot starting today. It’s a shot at a goal I have been trying to figure out how hit for a long time now. March, the month of madness, seems like the perfect time to pull up, five-feet past the 3-point-line and heave late in the fourth quarter. Will it go?
I have encountered a lot of egos on this fly fishing journey, and some love the clashing of opinions, ideas and a few don’t hesitate to escalate way beyond fly fishing in their pursuits of self. I try to make none of that my pillow to lose sleep on … make no mistake, I have an ego, but I strive to smother it — because of people I have known in my life who are a whole lot smarter than me HAVE SUCCEEDED in driving their egos out and show they have let wisdom in where ego once was.
EGO EATS BRAIN
Yes, I have appropriated that saying from one extremely wise man, an extremely intelligent man, who first got me into the outdoors more than thirty-years ago. We have lost touch, and I have tired of attribution over the last three decades, so I claimed it. Ego Eats Brain, and I added, It is Constantly Hungry and Needs Feeding.
THIS SHOT
I crossed a rubicon at one point in this long and strange journey, and was absolutely aware when it happened. It was my time spent around Lefty Kreh later in his life, and after I was over the sponge-stage of absorbing everything I could about fly fishing. I realized, in my briefest of times around Lefty, that he was not lingering on the past, or resting on laurels, he was always pushing the sport to the masses. In my opinion, that is what the Kreh cast is all about. And in my opinion, that is what his relationship with TFO Fly Rods was all about – bringing the sport to a mass audience and making it easy enough to get in to for the first timers.
These days, I marvel at all the companies, companies like Orvis, attaching their weight to a personality, like Tom Rosenbauer, trying to “capture” the crown Kreh could only wear. It only took one grumpy Rosenbauer video, which never should have been published by Orvis, to tell me, “that won’t work.” Lefty simply WAS the revolution. So there is no chance of a younger person, say the west coast’s Conway Bowman, to fill the deck shoes of Kreh. And mostly, what you find in the others, seekers of the crown, are ego trips filled with products given in hopes of one thing – money.
Sure, I endorse products! I get new products sent to me now, more than ever before. It is a recent phenomenon for ME. And it’s more easy than ever to pick up new brands, as companies struggle to do one thing above all – make money. The new dynamic has companies trying to figure out how to “advertise” their products like never before – and they’re all a bit mystified right now. But virtually none of these products, none of these promoters, expand the sport to new untapped age groups or ethnic groups.
Speaking Spanish
I know the hispanic community absolutely loves to fish. I know it because my fishing world started with four specific people: My Dad, my Grandfather, Jesús and Olegario. Jesús and Olegario worked for my Grandfather in his auto parts store for decades – until the store closed in Weslaco, Texas. They were always along for the overnight trips to Three-Islands, and to do repairs after hurricanes and tropical storms took out our shack on the Intracoastal (no, no one lives there full-time, by the way greenie). Their fishing stories were phenomenal fishing fuel.
Fast-forward, and I have always thought it would be something meaningful to bring the cult of fly fishing to the broader hispanic community. It took me a while to figure out how it could be done, technically, with respect, and in a way that is as inviting as possible for a group that has been under recognized and underserved by the fly fishing WORLD.
For better-and-or-worse, this is my attempt to expand the sport beyond the English speaking Texans. I know I will be demolishing the Spanish language for … for a … forever, but I have no choice but to try. I would be much more ecstatic to find a Spanish-speaking fly fishing sidekick who will stand on a deck and catch fish while narratively speaking, but that person has not volunteered yet. Believe it or not, I never wanted to be on camera as a habit!
I hope this works, and I will be watching the numbers – in hopes of growing this site and the YouTube Channel to the point where all I have to do is come up with mutually (Tex-Mex) interesting content that generates MORE content, and in turn attracts MORE people to the sport. It has to get a foothold if I am doubling my workload folks! ¡Tiene que afianzarse si estoy duplicando mi carga de trabajo, amigos!
I know it isn’t perfect, or even close. I welcome your critique of my Spanish speaking skills. And if going bilingual is, for some reason, against your own sensibilities? I wish you well.
Category: Body-Mind-Soul, Fly Fisher Health and Wellness, Life Observed, Mexican American Fly Fishing, Next Generation
