Archive for October, 2008

Serendipitous events seem to occur with great frequency in my life.  I can’t explain it.  Today was another example.

About a year ago, I was asked to get in touch with the president of the “Headwaters Fly Fishing Club” to see if I could assist them with getting their website back on line.  I did have a chat with Bill MacIvor and we both had good intentions to keep in touch and possibly meet for an afternoon of fly fishing, but we never did touch base again.

Today, I was going through old email and came across the first email that had Bill and I in touch. I thought I may as well give him a call again while I was looking at that email so I rang him up.

The Headwaters Club holds their meetings about 15 minutes from where I live, but in the past, I have just been too busy to commit to joining another club, although I’ve had a desire to find out more about Headwaters and perhaps consider membership. So I thought it was quite an interesting coincidence that after a year, the very day I call Bill, he advises me that tonight just so happens to be the club’s first meeting of the year and I get an invitation to attend.

At first, I didn’t think I really had time to  put away what I was working on and get ready for a meeting I had not scheduled, due to start in about an hour and a half.

Then, Bill mentions to me, “Tonight there is going to be a presentation on Czech Nymphing by a guy with the last name of Varga.”

“Varga?” I asked incredulously.  “Arron Varga by any chance?”

“Yes, that’s it.  That’s his name.”

For those who don’t know, I have fished with Arron many a time, and have counted him a very good friend. Indeed, we have been teammates on The Ospreys for the past few years, however this year for reasons I won’t get into, I resigned from the team and did not participate in the Canadian Fly Fishing Championships.  I had not seen Arron since the beginning of July and dearly wanted to talk to him about some things.

The chances of calling up a guy out of the blue after a year and finding out what I found out – the first meeting, and then not only the first meeting tonight, but also my good friend Arron would be presenting at it were curious. I was still hesitant about going but after being motivated to do so by someone who thought it would be good for me to get out of the office because she cares… I went.

I have to say that Arron did a fantastic job of presenting the subject of Czech Nymphing to a bunch of fly anglers who had never really heard much about the technique and who are more used to casting dry flies on the Upper Credit and many had never even heard of a “three fly rig” before.  He covered everything from the motivation behind the discovery and perfection of the technique (it has to do with discovering the most efficient and effective ways to catch small trout in rivers during competitions), equipment, leader considerations, types of flies to choose and how to balance the flies for the water being fished, the technique itself and even gave up some of his own secrets that helped Arron to perform very well for the past few years at the Canadian Fly Fishing Championships.

Arron spoke for close to two hours to an audience that had his full attention and interest.  Many a good question was put to Arron after his presentation and he expertly handled them all in a thoughtful, engaging and knowledgable way.

For myself, I learned a number of things that I’m looking forward to putting to the test as soon as I can.  As well, I met a great bunch of fly anglers and signed myself up to become a member of the club and am looking forward to the learning, sharing and camaraderie this coming winter.

I have to give thanks to Arron on a personal note as well, for we went out for a coffee after his presentation and discussed a few things that I really appreciated discussing with him.  Thank you, Arron.

If you’re interested in learning more about Czech Nymphing for fly fishing in general and want some instruction, you might want to consider getting in touch with Arron.  Along with instruction, he is now also offering some guiding on rivers in Southern Ontario including The Grand and Conestogo.  At the moment, he has no website but he can be reached at 519.843.5736 or  avarga at golden.net.

So the other day, the “Wee Man” begged me to take him fishing.  I knew I could use a few hours away from the office and out near water, so I agreed he didn’t need to beg me at all. But, I did need to get him a new fishing rod.

The short “little kid” rods are a pile of crap.  I don’t know what the point of any stores selling them is.  A little kid needs a short rod and a reel that is easy to use – and you’d hope they would last more than a few fishing outings. You’d hope.  They sure don’t make kids rods and reels like they used to.  The first rod and reel that my father bought me lasted three decades with some of my older boys even using it until finally, the all metal but light weight reel broke.  The plastic crappy reels that come with children’s “kits” are… well.. crap.

David isn’t quite ready for a fly rod yet – maybe next year, so in the meantime I thought it would be easy to find him a rod in the 4 foot length, with a decent reel that would do him a year or two.  The only thing I could find at the shop I was at (other than the plastic crap) was a 5 foot spinning rod and reel.  I was a bit concerned that he would not be able to handle that length of rod, especially with a spinning reel – but figured we might as well give it our best shot.

Although it is fly fishing only at the club I sometimes head to due to it’s proximity to my home, I figured it would be a great place to have David try some spinning rod casting from the dock.  And instead of tying on a hook or other lure, I simply attached a good sized weight to the end of his line.

After demonstrating how to cast a spinning rod/reel setup, David was all set to give it a try!  Awkwardly, he tried to hold the rod in his right hand, pull the line up from the bail and had problems turning the bail over… and his first cast was a huge mess of line and the weight at the bottom of his feet.  David laughed and laughed… while I worried that this was not going to be so successful.

Realizing that I had forgotten David was left handed, I quickly changed the retrieve on the reel and David excitedly tried to cast the rod again after the mess was untangled.

A cast of ten feet.  David wasn’t fazed in the least.

“Practice makes perfect, right Daddy?”

“You got it son,” admiring his unwillingness to give up at the first signs that this was going to take a bit more work than he anticipated.  And with the concentration and focus of a zen warrior, David kept at it until he could cast that lead weight 50 feet straight out in front of him! And that didn’t take him long at all to figure out his timing of his cast and his release.

After a while of helping him with some pointers and seeing as he was quite enjoying simply casting a weight into the water and then retrieving it, I decided I’d set up my fly rod and have a few casts myself.  And I couldn’t help but smile as after every cast of David’s, I heard a “Sweeeeet! Daddy, that was a great cast, wasn’t it?”  And sure enough, they were!

A couple of hours later of both of us casting, lots of laughs and banter and no fish for me, the temperature was getting downright chilly and I was starving.  We should have taken along something to eat but I never anticipated that David would be so content to simply cast and retrieve for so long.  But I figured he did need to get some supper into him.

“Hey David, we should probably get going.”

“Ok Dad, but… just a few more casts first, ok?”

Yes, he’s an angler! With a satisfied and happy smile on my face, I of course replied, “You betcha, David.  A few more casts! We always need to have a few more before we go home.”

We’ll be heading out somewhere Saturday afternoon where it’s not fly only, and this time, he’ll have a  lure or a hook with a worm on the end of his line.

As David would say, “Sweeeeet!”