Pete Tyjas and pal Jimmy hit the river with bamboo rods and a fly box containing some special flies.
“Before you open this present, promise me you’ll use it?” This was some five or six years ago when Emma asked me the question. It was my birthday and my wife Emma asked me the question before she handed me a present.
I nodded and then carefully unwrapped the paper. I looked at the small wooden fly box in my hand and then opened it. The flies inside were exquisitely tied and although Emma told me they were from AK Best I had already guessed they were his tyings.
As I get older I have become more sentimental. Small things mean a lot to me and I know how much trouble Emma had gone to to get the flies. I kept them in a safe place away from my fishing bag.
Every now and again she’d ask me if I was going to use the flies and I said “sure” but I couldn’t bring myself to. I’d have hated to lose one of them in a tree and the perfect, symmetrical line up in the fly box would be lost.
Something happened recently though. I had heard of the sad passing of bamboo rod maker Tom Moran. I got to spend the day with him via Eat, Sleep, Fish at the excellent Casterbridge fishing on the Frome. It was a memorable day for many reasons but meeting Tom was near the top. Especially as I have one of his rods. I had gotten the chance to tell him how much I cherished it.
I had the day off and my pal Jimmy had called to see if I fancied going fishing. The answer of course was yes. I’d told him about Tom and we decided to fish some bamboo rods in his honour. I also said to Emma that I was going to use the flies she’d bought me all that time ago. Her reply was simple: “good”.
The first stream we fished was tight and enclosed and I was nervous of losing the flies so I didn’t fish them. In some respects I am pleased I didn’t. The fishing wasn’t as good as I’d told Jimmy it had been of late and for some reason I couldn’t make a fish stick. I watched from the bank as Jimmy christened his rod while thinking about the big one I’d lost in the pool below.
The mental game is such a big part of fishing and one we often ignore or gloss over. I’d recently guided someone who is a specialist in this field and so it was fresh in my mind and I had been noting when I had been slipping out of the “zone”. Let’s face it were just fishing and I am not one to mourn a lost fish but there are times when I think that things are not going my way. Sometimes it is just the fish aren’t playing ball but I’ll say I was out of the zone.
Jimmy had caught a few more and I’d risen some and had them on too but they just came off. I was starting to think about a change of venue via somewhere to grab a sandwich but Jimmy was on a tight schedule and had a kitchen in his house he was supposed to be working on and so he offered me half of his sandwich as we drove to another stream to save time.
I’d hoped there would be mayflies hatching where we were heading. There was more room and less of a tree canopy and so I tied on a large Hendrickson from my special fly box. I offered one to Jimmy but he was clear “no way!”. He was also a little nervous of losing one too.
He tied on a mayfly emerger our pal Duncan had given him and it did bring up a few fish until that got stuck against a far bank. I watched as Jimmy waded out to try and save the fly but had to give up when the pool got too deep. I didn’t tell him I’d seen what had happened but said as it was good and open and that he should try an AK Best fly. He did this time and caught a fish on it and then so did I.
It was really a memorable day not from a fishing perspective but it was memorable for a lot of other reasons and was neat to tell Emma we’d caught some fish on the flies she’d bought many years previously.
Pete Tyjas is a fly fishing guide based in Devon