Monday Morning Sidewalk
Fly Fishing Isn’t Depressing
Good morning wherever you happen to be this Monday morning! I actually wonder where each of you are this morning, and how you’re actually doing – believe it or not.
Last week was one to mark on the calendar. My wife and I, in that order, were stunned by the passing of a new friend who we’d come to know only a short time ago. My wife and her had become quick friends, and she was perfectly healthy going-and-doing. They made a trip together back in May, and she hadn’t been feeling good, so off to the doctor. Diagnosis; terminal pancreatic cancer (terminal is all I have ever heard of when it comes to pancreatic). Fifty-seven-years-old and so much more to do … it’s a time when we struggle to make sense out of the loss. I know you young whippersnappers probably think 57 is old, but let me tell you; you’ll be there in the blink of an eye, and it’s not old.
Now that I have cheered you up for the week! There is a small window to fish this week as the windows do get smaller. It actually looks like today is the best day to be on the water, and Wednesday could be a good day to be at the water somewhere river fishing (and testing your rain gear).
I am starting to see a lot more real fly fishing information being broadcast using Instagram feeds these days, and from folks who were dragged into the whole “social networking” thing against their will. You’d think they invented Instagram by their followings. And some of them have (smartly) taken those loyalists from their Texas Hill Country guiding adventures to … their new guiding adventures on the Texas Gulf Coast. Heck of a deal, if I do say so myself. I like to think I can see a lot of things coming, but I never saw this uprising of the Hipster Fly Movement, much less that I was an early part of it. Thankfully, this tide raises all boats – even if it is possibly just a new generation of “sports.” Time will tell … ADD tends to knock a bunch of these guys off the branches before they wear out their first fly line … and out goes the tide.
Finishing on the bright side: My Grandmother down in the Borderlands turns 98-years-old this week. Now that is a life of length and girth. She’s been a bit ornery lately, but the Greatest Generation has a right to be that way, don’t they?
That time change had me up early this morning, confused by it all, and taking advantage of the opportunity – to get this out, and to maybe hitch up the boat, waiting for a weather break, in the driveway since Thursday. I was determined to add some fly fishing records to the boat this year, but learned my lesson. I started too late in the year, and stayed way too close to home. The fall bite is a lot tougher, but lays the waypoints for next spring.
Category: Adventure, Body-Mind-Soul, Complimentary Reading, Guides, Life Observed
