Fishing still figures

Among the things my father taught me fly fishing still figures prominently.

I don’t know where he picked it up. Fly fishing certainly wasn’t common in the rural Illinois of his youth, but it be-came Dad’s favorite way to fish.

He showed me how to cast foam rubber spiders for bass and bluegill when I was a kid and I’ve fished with a fly rod ever since.

Dad was a salesman with a route across southern In-diana and he always kept a rod in the trunk of his car, regularly stopping on his lunch break at a farm pond or stripper pit to make a few casts.

I thought that was the best part of my father’s job. He got to fish nearly every day.

Instead of admiring my father’s prowess at sales, I grew up hoping to one day get a job like his that involved angling.

For a short time I did make a living as a fishing guide, but eventually had to get a real job and angling was again relegated to pastime status.

Now I’m in my mid 60s. Fulltime jobs are a thing of the past and I do little but hunt and fish. There’s even a fly rod behind the seat in my pickup.

I traded the foam rubber spiders for a box full of wooly buggers, but little else has changed. Farm pond bass and bluegill still put a bow in my fly rod just like they did Dad’s.

My father passed away more than 10 years ago and had quit fishing long before that. I didn’t inherit any of his rods and I have no idea what happened to the old automat-ic fly reel he always used.

I haven’t seen a foam rubber spider in years, but I have no doubt they would still catch fish.

When I cast a fly, be it for bass or trout, I think of my old man, tie loosened, mud on his wingtips, standing on the edge of a stripper pit, fly fishing.

He had work to do and miles to travel, driving the same monotonous route day after day, yet he always stopped and fished, weather permitting.

And always with a fly rod. He said it was more fun that way.

I wish I knew where he picked it up. Maybe he told me and I wasn’t listening. I guess I’ll never know.

For me, however, fly fishing is no mystery. It’s among the many things my father taught me.

Parker Heinlein is at [email protected]