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Jim Johnson |
I have been fly fishing, if you could call it that at that time, from about age 11 or 12. For a summer's worth of yard work, grass cutting, carwashing and general labor at our next door neighbor's place, I was paid off with some cash, which my Mother confiscated, and a brand new Montague bamboo fly rod. That would have been 1949 or 1950. I had no idea what the thing was. A fishing rod, obviously, but not like any I had seen before. My Dad parted with $1, because my Mom had all my money, to buy a reel for me. He knew what to buy because the clerk at the hardware store explained to us what this new treasure was. The rod is long gone, but I still have the reel. This was Minnesota, Land of Lakes, and I had at least 8 or 10 lakes within a bike ride of my home. My Mom often handed me my rod and my cigar box of hooks, bobbers, sinkers and such, and told me to go catch a string of sunfish for supper. Mom, where are you when I need you? That rod stuck with me for a long time, through school years and through 5 or 6 years of duty with the U. S, Coast Guard. It is kind of hard to troll a fly behind a Coast Guard Cutter at almost 20 knots, so my fly fishing suffered for some years as I fashioned a career in that sea service. When I met my wife in Seattle in the mid 60's, I gained a great partner and a wonderful man as my Father in Law, who just happened to be a fly fisherman and not quite a fly tyer. He did have the tools and a collection of materials and a Herter's fly tying manual. His hackle pliers was a snapper clothespin. He got me started tying flies and fly fishing again. When he passed away, all of his fly tying stuff came to me. I was totally fascinated with this hobby, constantly trying and learning a lot just by doing it, over and over again. Then a night school class in Erie, Pennsylvania, another duty station. That class was a real eye opener for me, for I had been doing so many things the wrong way, or at least the hard way. Still today though, I use a snapper clothespin for my hackle pliers. I haven't found anything better with a softer touch that won't damage the hackle stem. , Now after 40 plus years of fly tying, it still holds its charm and fascination for me. There is always something new to learn, so I take a class or a seminar when I have an opportunity, some of these classes have been taught by the best in the field, much to my betterment. Now I also teach flytying. Every winter season, sponsored by our local Trout Unlimited chapter we find about 25 people who are interested in learning how to tie their own flies. I am retired now, in Bigfork, Montana, a really neat place for a fly fisherman to live. Lots of rivers, streams and lakes in the area along with great scenery and many, many nice people for neighbors and friends, and buddies to go fishing with me. I lured my wife into fly fishng, now she regularly trumps me when we go astream, it can't be luck because she has to go with me, so it must be skill as she consistently catches the largest and the most trout. And I am proud of her that she does it so well. |