Fly Fishing in Easton

Well, I had an entire blog ready to go on fly fishing when I realized just how incredibly boring it was. Fishing is apparently one of those things that one does and enjoys, but that bores everyone else silly like your great uncle's slides of his trip to the Grand Canyon. Let me try again. If you remember using a spinning rod as a kid and watching a bobber for what seemed like hours, that's not fly fishing. Fly fishing is to regular fishing what NASCAR is to Formula 1 racing. Both great sports, but the need to turn right occasionally makes Formula 1 just a little more interesting for me. Since the noble trout, salmon, or steelhead doesn't exist in Easton, fly fishing here is all about the gear and trying to fool the fish with a little twist of yarn not about catching something to eat. Every once and a while you catch a fish, but that's not really the point.

Successful fly fishing depends on something called "matching the hatch" which means knowing what kind of bugs are either hatching from our waters or laying eggs on them. Different fish eat different things at different times although blue gills, the most common fishable fish in our waters, will usually eat anything that fits in their mouths. The trick is to match the bugs or other imitations to whatever the kind of fish you are looking to catch are actually eating at the place they are actually eating it. This requires a little study of a part of nature most of us are not very familiar with. The reward for correct study is catching the fish you were looking for not the embarrassed bass or pickerel that takes blue gill bait because it was a boring day in the pond.

Personally, I practice catch and release fishing, but would be almost as happy if the fish had a little buzzer they could press to tell me they'd eat that if it was real because the catch and release part is where the ethics of fishing gets complicated. Folks have debated for years whether fish have the brain power to "dislike" being hooked and landed and whether they feel pain in the same way we do. Yes to the first and the jury is still out on the second. Good fisherman now debarb their hooks to give a fish a better chance to escape and make release after a catch quicker and easier, but if your hands are dry, when you catch a fish you can damage their protective layer of slime. Ethically catching blue gills shouldn't be too much of a problem-all the ponds in Easton risk being overrun by them which is bad for the overall population and the ecosystem as a whole. But for me and the individual fish on the end of the line it's always a big deal. Principal Wes Paul tells the story of a man who was walking the shore of the ocean after a storm and came upon a person throwing stranded starfish back into the sea. "There are thousands of starfish on the beach; you'll never save them all. What can it matter?" "It matters to this one," the person says as another starfish gets thrown back.  Estimates indicate that between 50 and 90% of fish released after being caught survive. Time out of the water is a key factor as is re-entry into the water-a difficult proposition for a non-wading fisherman since fish have no sense of balance in the air unlike a cat and can land very awkwardly. Today is Farmer's Market Tuesday, and I'm having salmon for supper so I guess I'm philosophically conflicted.

By legend fly fishing was invented by a 15th century nun with a willow rod, a piece of string, and a twist of wool. The gear has gotten "slightly" more complicated over the last 600 years. There are choices to be made in everything from rods and reels to lines and flies. Aside from a couple of specialty shops aimed at advanced folks and sporting goods stores where no one actually knows what a fish looks like, there are two spots to go for fly fishing gear around here. The best is L. L. Bean in Mansfield. For $15 you can take a fly fishing lesson to see if you like this art form. The folks in the store are very helpful-particularly Greg and Richard. Both will fit you out with basic gear and answer any questions. From there you're free to make things as complicated as you want and here's where the conversation can get esoteric and boring for the non-fisherman. Bean has a good selection of flies that last long, but are relatively expensive $1.85-$5. Bass Pro Shop has a good selection of equipment and a ton of stuff to tie your own flies, but I've always found the Pros there stand-offish and not very interested in helping. Price range for equipment and flies are about the same as at Bean, but the quality of the flies seems a little less. The Blue Fly Cafe on the Internet sells flies for 65¢ each and if they are likely to end up in a tree that's a good price!

Hope you weren't too bored!