Fly fishing isn’t as easy as it looks
On a chilly Sunday morning at the pond at Trax Farms in Finleyville, I tried my hand at fly fish casting. I have fished just twice in my life, but with a spinner and lure.
Robert Watson, the manager of the Orvis store at the Galleria of Mt. Lebanon, provided me with a condensed Fly Fishing 101 class, so I felt “equipped” to let the line fly during a casting lesson.
Fly fishing looks poetic, peaceful, and, I have to admit, easy. I’ve seen clips from the movie “A River Runs Through It,” and that is my only point of reference.
My first attempt looked neither poetic nor peaceful, and it was not easy.
With the help of Eric Bailey, an endorsed fishing guide for Western Pennsylvania, I got a better sense of how the fishing rod moves back and forth to gain momentum for the cast.
Rob Ranko, fishing manager for Orvis and Fly Fishing 101 instructor, told me that women and kids pick up on the “finesse” part of casting pretty quickly, but with a $2,000 dollar rod I borrowed for the morning cutting a wide swath through the morning air, I am doubtful.
After several guided attempts, I successfully launched the fly line into the pond at an acceptable distance and my confidence grew.
While several novice attempts to cast the fly line does not a fly fisherman make, I was thrilled to receive the positive feedback of seeing my line reach its destination.
And, while I did not catch a fish that day (it’s a catch and release policy), I did catch the bug.