Fish

Fish Story Earl Plato

Responses to my recent article on earth worms drew this response. “Earl. What do you know about fly fishing?” “Not very much,”- I said. I have observed spectacular fly castings at Toronto and Buffalo Sportsmen Shows. I watched at Chew Magna Lake in Somerset, England as many fly fishermen showed their fly casting skills. Impressive? Yes. I have even perused Isaac Walton’s 1653 book, The Compleat Angler. Still I was limited in my knowledge. Then my income tax consultant Bob Allen, a retired Fort Erie elementary school principal and an old friend, provided me with an excellent personal write up about fly fishing, Bob even provided photos of his excursion to Slovakia in Europe. Have you ever fly fished? Here are excerpts about Bob’s adventure. Bob’s fly fishing guide would be Jan Bartka, the Champion Fly Fisherman of Slovokia also known for his accomplishments as a World Champion Fly Fisherman. What a way to learn this skill! “I slid into the wool pants first as the water was known to be cold and then into the waders. Jan hooked the net onto my back and handed me a pole. He said, “Practise.” We headed to a shallower part of the river to do just that. The first attempts I used a dry Caddis fly. When Jan was reasonably satisfied with the fact that most often my fly found the right part of the water we headed down stream to get more serious.”
Writer’s note: Bob and Jan were fishing on the cold, fast flowing waters of the Vah river in Slovakia.
Jan Bartka would position Bob in a certain area. He wanted Bob to cast upstream and let the dry fish float down and across the current. They were not getting any results with the dry flies so Jan decided to switch to wet flies or nymphs. He tied two on the leader. The first was a “Wooly Bugger” placed about a foot above a tiny green bead head followed by a light sinker on the end of the leader. This weighted fly line approach was new to Bob. Jan came over to him and led him in the approach of flipping the fly combination in a loop over his left shoulder. Then a hit followed by a trout on the line with a short exciting struggle. Bob exclaimed, :Lost it!” A lesson was learned to keep the tip of the rod high. Eventually the two moved to deeper water where Jan showed his expertise in quickly covering each area and hitting Brown Trout. The fun of fly fishing overcame Bob’s weariness of attempting to stay upright in the swift current. Yes, he did catch a fish - a Grayling. Bob said there were more hits on the wet flies but trout are so subtle in striking. Only experienced fly fishermen like Jan can recognize this and set the hook carefully without pulling it out. All the fish that day that they caught were released. Bob Allen ended with, “… a great day on the Vah River in the company of a champion fly fisherman. His exclamation - PRICELESS!”