Sunday, August 07, 2011

If First You Don't Succeed

If First You Don't Succeed, try, try again was traced back to a teacher -- Thomas Palmer, but the phrase is as true as it was back in the 1700's when he wrote it (or stole it from someone else). It seemed to resonate with me as I tied my first fly fishing fly.
I bought an inexpensive fly tying kit this week. It came with the tools, the supplies and a DVD. Watching the old guy demonstrate how you tie "simple flies" looked like a no brainer.
Hey, I could do this blindfolded I thought as I previewed the instructions. But when I got out the hook, feathers, thread, and other stuff my confidence waned.
I took it step by step, pausing the DVD so that I could tie the fly as he tied his. When he finished, his fly looked like the ones you buy for two bucks at the fly fishing shop, but my fly looked like it had the mange.
Jilda was kind when she said  -- It looks like a mutant.
The thing is, I'm not sure DDT or Agent Orange could make an insect look this ugly.
All the books, magazine articles, and videos I've watched have all said that tying flies is zen-like. It's almost as relaxing as fly fishing.
I'm going back to re-read and re-watch because I didn't get that vibe with my first fly.
In fact it took an incredible amount of self restraint to keep me from ripping the vice from the table and flinging it through the iMac.
But, then I remembered Thomas Palmer's words -- If first you don't succeed, try, try again.
I am going to give the fly a try on Wednesday morning when I go fishing. I know that if I caught a trout on the gnarly fly, I would be officially hooked (pun intended).

9 comments:

  1. Good luck with the fishing. Hope your, ahh, 'unique' lure helps you catch something :)

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  2. Oh you had me laughing with this one! Just make sure the iMac is out of range when you Try, Try again!! LOL!!
    Love Di ♥

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  3. Ummmm....do trout really care what dinner looks like? Frankly if I had to eat flies and a new kind sort of showed up in the lake, I would be the trout that would just have to try it. Wait, I did that with a new soup our hospital cafeteria was offering last week..BIG MISTAKE..BIG.

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  4. Patience is definitely a virtue!
    :-)

    Take care
    x

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  5. Ha ha. Well, look at it this way---if I'm a trout (and yes, I've been called much worse), I'm gonna hit on that mutant fly of yours if I'm hungry enough. A fly in the hand is worth two in the creel, or something like that.

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  6. I need to show this to my fella, he is a keen course fisherman. :)

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  7. Good luck with your catch!

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  8. Did your fly catch anything?

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  9. He SB I went fishing this morning, but I walked out and left the fly box at home. I kicked myself when I got to the Sipsey.
    I caught 10 trout this morning though.

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