When I started flyfishing well over 25 years ago, I didn't know much about it. I had an old fiberglass rod and Perrine automatic reel, I don't know where they came from, they were probably my Dad's. I fished with this rig for years, I still have the reel. The flies I used were bought at a department store. At the time I had no idea what kind of bugs these flies represented. The thought process before tying on a fly went something like, "this was my lucky fly last time", not very scientific.

It was years before I found out that the flies that you fish with should be intended to imitate a specific insect that may be hatching at that time. I fished with a lot of goofy flies, they appealed to something in me and sometimes they even appealed to the fish. I caught fish on those flies, but my success wasn't what it could have been.

As I became more interested in flyfishing, I started to read books about in an effort to improve my skills. Over the course of years, I read every book I could find about flyfishing. What I found out was very interesting. There is a tremendous amount of extremely valuable information published about flyfishing. All you have to do is sort it out from the 95% of information in print that is either not useful, or misleading. I think some of the authors of these books are better writers than they are fishermen. I tried a lot of things that proved to be not just unhelpful, but downright counterproductive. The best way to learn the ropes is to have an expert take you under his wing. If you don't have access to a real expert (there are darn few of them), the best you can do is concentrate on what makes sense. Most bad advice doesn't make any sense if you stop and think about it.

There is so much to know. What insects do the trout feed on? What time of year do the important insects hatch? What time of day do the trout feed on the given insect? What is the most effective way to rig my gear for each situation and type of fishing? What is the best approach for a given situation? What type of insects are available to the trout now? What is the best size and type of fly for a given hatch? How do I get the best drift? What types of knots should I use? Where are the fish likely to be feeding now? It isn't nuclear science but it is almost as complicated.

Is it good thing or a bad thing that flyfishing is so complicated? A lot of people get frustrated and quit. You might argue that it is too much trouble to have to learn so much to be any good at it, and for you that might be the right answer. I think it is great that there is so much to know. If I knew all there is to know about flyfishing, I might quit. I'm sure I will never know all there is to know about it. I 'll never again be as good at the sports I played when I was younger, but I am planning on being a great flyfisherman by the time I am 70 years old, much better than I am today.