Ed, Pascal is a Swiss mountain boy. More than met my match, haha. I was the one who was running out of gas late in the day!
wgmiller, While the fishing situation was indeed different than PA, you are right, we are blessed with a wide variety of waters here. From big rivers in drift boats, to technical fishing on limestone spring creeks, to pocket water nymphing in brawling rapids, to overgrown mountain freestoners where it may not be technical, but one must negotiate and cast in tight spots. Plus add steelhead, big and small river smallmouth, etc. You are correct in saying that if you can manage in anything that PA has to offer, you can fish anywhere in the world and not make an idiot of yourself! Perhaps the one "style" we lack is much in the way of saltwater. Though we can get that pretty close. But if there's any type of fly fishing where I'd feel totally lost it'd be saltwater flats.
Always interesting to compare yourself against fishermen from different areas. I don't know how much was "guide talk" and how much was accurate, but Pascal praised my skills. I think it was partly accurate, in that as a guide in a touristy location, he gets as many rich guys who fancy themselves as fisherman as he does actual fisherman. Such places would not be so kind to the tweed wearing chalk stream types. But yeah, "guide talk" likely exaggerated the effect a bit.
But a PA small stream background is close enough that even if a little out of my element, the same skills applied. And Pascal would likewise do better on our smaller, brushier waters than many accomplished PA fishermen would.
He did delight in the bow and arrow cast, and picked out many nearly impossible "caves" for me to try to stick a fly into.
