President's Message - May 2009 "Comfort Zone"
by Rob Burlingame
As I write this month’s message, the excitement is building for this year’s Bud Priddy Memorial One Fly tournament, our club’s annual tournament on the Nueces River, with the tournament less than a week away. It is always a great time full of camaraderie, light hearted competition and a good chance of a triple digit fish day that brings anglers from across the state. This is a great tournament in memory of one of our club’s most dedicated members, but it also serves as an annual benchmark for me on a personal level. It marks that wonderful time of year when the warm water fisheries, both freshwater and salt, are coming into full bloom and the fish within them take on another degree of aggressiveness and our club’s outings become more regular and often.
This past weekend a few members of our club had the pleasure of visiting TPWD’s Sea Center Texas in Lake Jackson. This is the largest saltwater hatchery in Texas and the work they are doing to ensure a solid stock of saltwater fare is impressive. The processes behind the breeding of redfish, trout and flounder are much more involved than I had thought. Without giving away too many secrets and spoiling the fun of a trip on your own, I will simply say that this is a “must see” and is well worth the drive from San Antonio.
Since we were already in East Texas for the tour, we decided to make a weekend of it and hosted the small group at our family’s beach house just east of Matagorda Bay to explore some waters unfamiliar to most in our club. Each visit to our beach house reminds me of my fly fishing journey when I transitioned from my former self ten years ago, slinging shrimp and croaker from the private dock and taking occasional trips out in the john boat after hungry redfish.
When I finally decided to try fly fishing at the coast, it was a slow transition to say the least. When packing for the regular trips south, I grabbed the usual arsenal of bait casting “bubba sticks” and hesitantly grabbed my fly rod and gear. At the time, my fly casting abilities were rough and when you put wind into the picture, it became even rougher. I am glad the wind never blows at the coast! Yeah, right. In reality, it was more a factor of my comfort zone that usually kept the fly rod deserted in the back of my truck as I headed off with the heavy tackle. It was simply a matter of confidence in my bait casting rigs and my ability to catch fish with them, that kept me back in my comfort zone. That is when I made a command decision…if I was going to learn the art of saltwater fly fishing, I was going to have to leave my other rods at home and leave no other option but to use the fly gear…Yikes!
Looking back, that was one of the best decisions I have ever made. It forced me outside of my comfort zone and required me to refine my casting so that the wind was no longer a factor. I had to cure the fishing bug somehow and now I had only one option. And who knew you could catch so many fish on a fly at the coast?!? The funny thing now is that I have learned much more about saltwater fish through fly fishing than I had in many years throwing bait. When armed with a fly rod on the flats, hunting for skinny water fish to sight cast, you suddenly become ultra-observant to the effects of the many factors in saltwater. You look for birds and tails and other signs, like the grass bending with the tide movements, and begin to figure out the best spots to find fish regardless of the conditions.
Fast forward ten years to this past weekend and I had a new experience. One of the members brought his son along on the trip who has been fishing less than a year. He was armed with spinning tackle, so I decided to go back to the old days for the afternoon to help a little with his teaching. After a couple of hours flipping bait and artificials, I realized that the tides of life had changed. Now, the spinning rod was out of my comfort zone! Feeling somewhat disadvantaged, I ran to the truck for my fly rod and the fun began. A countless number of “schooly” trout and a handful of larger speckled trout later, the weekend was over and the whole group was beaming on the ride home.
What I have realized in my journey to perfect my fly fishing skills is that sometimes you have to step out of your comfort zone to improve. When you make the decision to improve and you leave yourself no other option, you will improve! So next time you are heading out, leave your other rods at home and step out of your comfort zone. The results can be amazing.
Tight Lines!