Rick Crawford
I learned how to surf before I started fly fishing while on a vacation in Hawaii when I was in high school. Admittedly, I am not a very good surfer, but I thoroughly enjoy it, nonetheless. It is such a thrill to ride a wave. I immediately fell in love with not only the sport, but also the culture…Aloha shirts, laid-back vibes, beautiful scenery and pretty girls…I mean, what’s not to like? I still surf to this day, and enjoy it just as much now as I did when I caught my first wave twenty years ago.
After college, I worked on a guest ranch in Encampment, Wyoming for a summer and my roommate happened to be a fishing guide, and I learned how to fly fish over that fateful summer of 2008. Just like surfing, I fell in love immediately after landing my first trout on a fly rod. I still love fly fishing and benefit from it today just as much as I did when I caught my first trout ten years ago.
Until recently, I hadn’t put a whole lot of thought into the connection between surfing and fly fishing, but I believe both sports are partly responsible for my love for nature and wanting to protect what I love. Fly fishing and surfing are outdoor lifestyles which are unique in that they both require a respect and understanding for the environment, and they have taught me some great life lessons along the way….This is the first in the “Lessons from a Life of Fly Fishing & Surfing” blog series and hope you enjoy…
Lesson 1: Be Patient
It requires a good deal of patience and persistence to learn how to cast a fly rod or catch a wave. For me, fly fishing was an intimidating sport to learn as I always felt out of sorts as I learned to cast, untangle knots and spent the majority of my day retrieving my fly from the branches my fly was wrapped around and wondering why I was not catching fish when others around me were “slaying them.” I would later learn the importance of matching the hatch and a novice amount about entomology (or at least enough to name my company of the life cycle phase of an aquatic insect). However, when it all comes together, there is nothing like finally matching the hatch and landing that trout, and actually feel the energy of the fish being transferred to your hands as you fight it and release back into the wild to be caught again. All of those hours untangling knots and not catching fish dissolve and I quickly learned that patience is indeed a virtue that pays off.
Surfing is similar in that everyone starts off as a kook and I spent the majority of my days unsuccessfully trying to pop up on my board, nearly drowning as I would wipe out, then lose my breath from my ungraceful flailing around in the water. But once I caught a wave, I learned that persistence does pay off because surfing is equally as rewarding fly fishing. For example, after paddling until my arms felt like rubber bands, I finally popped up on my board at the right time and felt the wave’s energy transfer through my board and toes as I glided down the face of the wave.
To successfully catch a fish on fly, or ride a wave on a surfboard, one needs equal parts patience and persistence. Surfing and fly fishing teaches us to be humble, and that hard work pays off, if you are willing to fail over and over again until you get it right.
Stay tuned for Lesson from a Life of Fly Fishing & Surfing: Part 2…