Me neither but yes, I see the future on the horizon.... This is karma cause when I was younger, my father used to ask me to tie on his flies especially as the light started to fade. I used to mess with him about being old.
This is very true! Our health can create obstacles to our fly fishing as we age. We just need to pray and keep the faith that we will be able to get out there.
I was very fortunate in my youth to spend every summer in Montana. From 1966 to 1972 I fished virtually every day for three months. Then for thirty years I spent at least 10 days in Montana fishing tail waters. I preferred fishing over working. I had a skill as a machinist to get a job every time I returned from my three month vacation.
Amen to that. I saw my parents, uncle, and best friend seemingly have their health go to hell almost overnight, all are now just in my memories. My SIL went from being perfectly fine to needing chemo in the span of a week. Life is fickle so you have to get out and live it.
64 my skills are not diminished at all..Only thing diminished is enjoyable casting and fishing with arthritis in both hands , back and both feet. I am able to enjoy it for about a half day, then it turns to grinding.
Heck, 55 years old shouldn't even be in this conversation about aging effecting fly fishing. Most people don't retire until they are at least 61.I can say that at 55 I can still do it most days. That said, I experience a couple more days a year where I know I am struggling a bit for whatever reasons.
Those days usually involve fishing the same morning I've made a long drive on less than optimal sleep. On some of those mornings I can start out slow and later hit a sweet spot before I start trailing off again.
I think it's a sign I need to start getting a room or get a young Mennonite girlfriend with a barn. Or just accept that it happens some days and just enjoy myself without worrying about living up to my own high expectations.
Is this why I see so many of you old farts not showing up until 11 AM to look for risers
61, yeah right! Try 67 if we are lucky these days, Matt!
I often laugh with guys I fished with a long time about how inept we were as "yoots."
It's embarrassing to admit, but when I was kid fishing on heavily pressured SEPA stocked trout waters, I read too much and was so stupid, I assumed "Eastern PA" hatch charts pertained to Delco trout streams.
As a result I actually expected Quill Gordon's, Hendrickson's & Sulphurs to appear on Ridley Creek and would often sit on the bank of the streams waiting for a hatch that never came...
Because I was such a moron, I figure I wasted 13,678 hours as a kid fly fisherman...
As a soon to be discarded old geezer fly angler I can catch a fish on Humpy with one hand tied behind my back, drunk and blindfolded in a minute and a half.
Good point. I think I am there. I spend a lot of time with my nephews and their friends just showing them a few of the things I have learned over the years. I do not worry too much if I don't catch a fish anymore. I can also just be content rowing others in my boat all day or just walking a stream and looking for risers and if there are none then I will just observe the birds . . .
