My saltwater fly fishing experiences in the Pacific Northwest are almost exclusively on a boat. This morning I headed out to a well known point to see if I could tangle with a couple salmon with my feet planted firmly in the cobbles. The fishing was slow for anything besides bullheads. I hooked a couple tiny salmon and one eleven inch cutthroat. Only two larger salmon were caught by the guys casting buzz bombs throughout the entire morning.
I learned a few things this morning though. Fishing from a boat has given me an excuse to get a little sloppy with backcasts. Years of muscle memory from water loading heavy shooting heads take some time to unlearn. Within the first ten minutes I broke off two flies from letting the backcast get a little low.
The second thing I learned is that freighters have big wakes and it's a good idea to take a quick break from casting when they start rolling into the shoreline.
The last and most important thing I learned is that fishermen can be a weird bunch. I reeled up and was getting ready to put everything away in the car when I started chatting up a guy parked in an older SUV that had been out fishing. I like to talk about fishing and he looked like an old timer so I thought I might be able to pick up some useful information by talking to him. He was a bit short on the conversation and started his rig and started to back away. Right before he put it in gear and drove off I saw him quickly flipping through a magazine. He was close enough and I have really good eyesight so I checked out what he was reading. It was a porn mag.
Don't interrupt the dirty old men on their fishing break.
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