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flyfishsteelhead.com |
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A web site is born. It was innocent enough really. It was Saturday and I got roped into grocery shopping with my wife. I hate all shopping, except for flyshops. Shopping for around the house, is just this side of ladies laundry standing, (only men can fully appreciate this) and we are walking the aisles and I get bored, somewhere between the wax paper and the frozen foods. I am going to check out the magazines," I stated. My wife nodded. Used to be, I read every hunting and fishing thing I could get my hands on, then only waterfowling and fishing, and finally only flyfishing. I should confess something right off the bat. I get complimentary subscriptions to several magazines, probably by editors who hope I will come to my senses and advertise with their rag. Now I only subscribe to Sports Illustrated, and I throw away the swimsuit issue. So I picked up the latest Flyfisherman and was thumbing through. Another article on flyfishing the Skagit River steelhead. I know the water, I know the author. I found myself skimming instead of reading. "Oatmeal," I said to the book self. "Nothing but oatmeal." I have been in and around the flyfishing scene since I was a kid. Hell, I grew up on the North Fork of the Stilly. The biggest reason people don't spend more time chasing steelhead with a fly is because, they don't catch them when they do. Steelhead are hard. Its the hard that makes them great. I did read a biography of Al Knudson. An angling great. This man would forget more than most fishers would ever know about fishing steelhead with flies. And most of what he knows, is buried with him. An observation: Anglers will never become great steelheaders by reading generic lit. It is almost as if they know this, but pretty books with lots of pictures, is all they get. Then it hit me. Dennis, you are 45 years old, a guide and a biologist, you tie secret patterns and you slip into secret pools. One summer in the early eighties, you handled 163 summer runs, 64 from the same pool, 20 hook-ups is still your best day's fishing. (Alaska not withstanding.) What makes you think you won't be buried, along with your angling knowledge too? Anglers who don't catch steelhead are not interested in "oatmeal" They starve for meat and potatoes. They crave for someone to stand up and say "Do this and don't do that." A guy who is willing to make a definitive statement. Tell me what works for you and why. Give me the Martha Stewart of Steelhead Flyfishing. Now I must confess, guides by definition are as secretive as any magic show. We have our bag of tricks, a pool, a river, a fly, a presentation. The idea is to gather as much information about the other guys tricks without giving up your own. Stop me when you disagree. Steelhead bums are the same, but at least they don't prostitute it. I have always been a bit of a radical, I think that is why I rankle some of the flyfishing traditionalist. Not only do I not care, sometimes I think I enjoy it. But it isn't that I don't care about steelhead. I care about the fish, about the fishers or would be fishers. I think our greatest weakness is to fail to realize, most anglers are so intimidated by the difficulty of steelhead success, that we fail to see that only the only those who passionately pursue steelhead, are those who will stand up to protect them. How passionate can you get over a fish you can't catch? I made a decision: I have been blessed, As I often tell my clients, I have the best office in the whole world. Why not give something back? I decided I would be one to stand up and tell it like it is. My articles and stories found at flyfishsteelhead.com are about my expertise and experiences in pursuit of great fish. I am not going to tell you, I know everything there is to know about steelhead flyfishing. In fact, every time I head for the river I try to do one of two things. Learn something new, or reinforce a concept I have found to be true. I will not tell you, you have to fish like me, but rather, If you are not catching steelhead on a consistent basis, you might want to try this or that......it works for me. When I started writing about different steelheading subjects, I knew I would probably hit a chord with some. I started getting E mail from other guides and steelheaders. "You are giving it all away!" They would say. Our rivers will all be overrun with anglers, and there won't be any place to fish! I decided I would continue to write until it hurt my business. I reached another conclusion. I have been chasing these fish for 30 years. I will probably forget more, than most steelheaders will ever know. After three years of writing, I can still fish my favorite waters, I help a few more people to catch a fish, respect a fish. Total upside. I have met some wonderful people. They know me and the things I value, they appreciate the same things I do. For this I am grateful. And I do feel I have given something back. For steelhead, the people who appreciate them, and for those who hope to. Best of fishing, Dennis
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E-mail Dennis at DDDicksons@aol.com ,or phone at
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