rigging for a trip

[GenCon]

I am getting ready for a Tarpon trip 2nd week of June. This will be a strange trip in a way. I lost my dear friend and guide this past Winter. His name was Rick Miller. I will be fishing with Robert Kline who happened to be one of Ricks best friends. Just the other day I sent Robert 2-dozen tarpon flys for him to test a bit before I get there. I have always preferred to tie and use my own patterns.

So today I got out all my gear. I re-tied all my backing to fly lines. Then added new butt sections to the end of all my lines. Cleaned my lines. Made sure all my reels are in clean and in good shape. There is something about rigging. Although it is satisfying for me to do so. It goes beyond that. As I was doing so. It brought back many fond memories of previous trips. Fishing trips with my Dad. He was so excited for me when I caught my first tarpon. It stirred memories of the different guides I have fished with. Some good, some bad. All the different fish I have caught and certainly some of the fish I had lost. Interesting though. I believe memories of fish that I had lost, somehow have some of the greatest and strongest impact.

So obviously I am feeling a bit sentimental today. Thinking about my Dad and my friend Rick. But all good thoughts. So for me in the future. If I have a day that I am feeling a bit down, or even excited about a future trip. I should just do a bit of rigging. The feelings I got from doing that today are the reason I fly fish.

GenCon

 

[pro4mance]

Just Enjoy your trip and pour a Sip for your friend, Rick Miller. After that it's all gravy

 

[pcray1231]

Good post.

I can't help but read that post and realize how our FF experiences differ drastically, yet many of the major points are the same.

I have never hired a guide in the USA. I have internationally, which were business or family trips and I get maybe one day to fish, without time to plan or knowing how to go about it in such a strange location. I very rarely fish saltwater, my only experiences being surf or inlet fishing from shore in mid-Atlantic locations for stripers/blues/spot/croaker/flounder, or else off-shore charters where you basically troll and reel in fish once the captain and mate have hooked them. The whole big FF trips to exotic locations is just foreign to me.

But, like you, memories is the biggest part of the game. Memories of past trips, memories of friends and loved ones. And yes, the part about rigging bringing back those memories rings true. Even better for me is pictures. It's why I take pictures of trips, and try to capture more than just the obligatory fish pic. People and places need to be in those pictures. Then I keep each trip in a separate folder. When a memory stirs, like during rigging, I have to go back and look through the pictures of that trip and "re-live" it in more detail. But the picture isn't the point, it's merely a trigger to load more detail around those memories. A still image can't do justice for all that a memory is.

 

[GenCon]

Thanks guys. pcray. I here you about the pics. I do try to get as many as I can.
It's a little tough while tarpon fishing. Just the guide and me in the boat. But I do have plenty and am sure I will get more this trip. I do sift through old pics from time to time. But for me some of the best pics are in my mind.

GenCon

 

[McSneek]

GenCon wrote:
I do sift through old pics from time to time. But for me some of the best pics are in my mind.
GenCon

On my lone bonefish experience off Nassau the sun came out at one point and the ocean around me lit up in every shade of neon blue and green you can imagine. Brilliant white sand flats. Huge thunderheads in the distance. I thought about trying to take a picture and realized I had neither the skill nor the equipment to do justice to what my eyes saw. That scene will remain burned in my mind as long as the good Lord sees fit for me to retain it.

 

[ryguyfi]

Your post about losing fish reminded me of this quote by Matt Damon in the movie Rounders...

In "Confessions of a Winning Poker Player," Jack King said, "Few players recall big pots they have won, strange as it seems, but every player can remember with remarkable accuracy the outstanding tough beats of his career." It seems true to me, cause walking in here, I can hardly remember how I built my bankroll, but I can't stop thinking of how I lost it.

Doing something for the first time without that someone that you have always done it with is always tough. Enjoy your time out, and I hope you land a few nice tarpon.

 

[GenCon]

Thanks for your comments guys.

GenCon

 

[buffalo]

Great post, have many of the same feelings.

 

[pete41]

Fishing with my father at Chester Bloomfield's place on the Honga river on the eastern shore will always be no. 1 with me- been 55 years but -excuse me tears in my eyes.
When we would get home he would tell me I was vice president in charge of unloading car-he would go in and take a nap and I would do all the work feeling highly honored at the title-took me years to figure that one out.

 

[gulfgreyhound]

Great post.
Sunrise over The Gulf. Waterspouts. Color changes in the water to a blue that defies description. Having a beer in the rain with friends.
It's not all about the fish. GG

 

[J55tyger88]

^Very true. Mike, great post. Your Dad and Rick will be watching.

 

[GenCon]

Thanks guys. Everytime I re-read this it brings in the emotion. I am sure I will be fine and have a great time. Hopefully catch some great fish.

GenCon

 

[geebee]

I feel ya Gencon - My Dad is 86 this summer and I am psyched to be able to Salmon fish with him one more time in 4 weeks time.

its a bittersweet emotion before during and after fishing - particularly as he lives in England and can't travel here at all as medical insurance will not cover him.

In regards to guides - I have completed 180'd on them. Last trip out I learned more in 2 days than the previous 10 years about holding water, casting, presentation, fly tying etc - for example he taught me the 'upstream perry poke ' cast which even with a SH rod you can cast from under trees etc.

my view now is that whenever I go somewhere 'destination' to take the first day/days the best damn guide I can get and afford to.

Cheers

Mark.

 

[GenCon]

geebee, happy for you to fish with your Dad. Thats a great thing. I fished with mine until he could no longer do it. As far as guides. I have ever used one for trout. But I do understand the need and want to do so. I have been FF for tarpon for a very long time. Although I have caught them on my own. You are pretty much wasting your time without one. Unless you happen to be a local with his own boat.

Have a great salmon trip,

GenCon