Waders Aren't Complicated?

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about my waders springing a leak in the most unsightly of places.  They've lasted for several years and they were given to me by someone who had already used them for a while, so I decided it might be time to start looking for new waders.  It couldn't be too complicated to decide what I was going to get, right?  Waders are just something to keep you dry, right?  Well, do you want neoprene waders or breathable?  Do you want boot foot or stocking foot?  Do you want rubber soles or felt soles?  Or both?  Do you want studs?

This just got a little more complicated...

Book Review - The Fly Fisherman's Guide to the Meaning of Life

I received The Fly Fisherman's Guide to the Meaning of Life as a late Christmas present this year.  It’s a short collection of fishing “lessons” from Peter Kaminsky.  Mixed in among his fishing stories are sections of "Insights" to the various aspects of fly fishing.  I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  Once I got started reading the stories it was difficult to put the book down.  Kaminsky has been fishing long enough to have some good stories and he tells them well.  And while I truly enjoyed the stories, I feel like I will go back to the Insight sections of the book repeatedly throughout my fishing career.  Here are some excerpts from the Insight sections…

A Little Bit of Knowledge

The first time I went fly fishing by myself was not a successful experience. I got my equipment set up and then couldn’t remember how to tie a perfection loop on the end of a new leader. It took me 45 minutes just to start heading to the stream. And once I hit the stream it didn’t get any better. I only spent about 30 minutes fishing. Not only did I come nowhere near to catching a fish I got my line tangled in trees about half a dozen time, lost 4 flies, and got stuck in mud at least
twice. To add to the injustice my waders sprung a leak… at my crotch.

Despite all of this I still didn’t look on the trip as a failure.  I did take an important piece of knowledge away from the trip.  No matter how long you've been fishing you can always encounter a situation that you're not prepared for.  So what do you do?

Addicted To Fly Fishing

I wasn't able to go fishing at Busch Memorial this week.  Circumstances dictated otherwise.  But I was able to go fishing.  My dad and I took my three year old to a pay fishing site south of Fenton, MO called Chip Away Lake & Bait Ship.  I know, I know, paying to fish a stocked lake is not really fishing.  I agree.  But my three year old loves to go fishing with Daddy and I really want her to catch fish.  But that didn't happen.

Do not let this story be a first impression of this fishing location.  I have heard good things about this place.  But with all the rain we've had in Missouri Fenton has had some flooding from the Meramc and Chip Away did not escape it.  The water was high and muddy.  I'm sure that any fish that were there were hunkered down because they couldn't see from the mud.  I'll probably take my daughter back there sometime when the fishing should be better.

While I was standing out there casting out a worm, waiting and then reeling it back in I realized how much I wanted to be fly fishing instead.  So what is it about fly fishing that is so addicting?