What Makes a Great Angler?

Anglers, especially beginning anglers, generally overvalue knowledge of spots, which basically amounts to knowing how to catch the same fish twice.

What’s a cat got to do with fishing? We’re not sure, but found this guy creeping around the back of the truck bed while exploring new water near Parshall, CO.

Here’s my best fishing tip: if you want to get the best possible information from a fly shop employee, don’t ask him for a specific spot. The best you can hope for is that he’ll give you the same spot he’s given to the dozens of other people who have asked that same day, and every day since his first day working there. You might get even less than that, if it’s a particularly snarky employee–sometimes the first answer you’ll get if you ask “where’s the best fishing?” is “in the water.”

I’m sure the people who ask for spots in fly shops are thinking that they just want to go out and catch a fish, and that they need spot knowledge to be able to do so in the time they have, because they’re just starting out or they don’t know the area well or they only have a single day to fish. Still, I have to wonder why someone would want to deny themselves half of the fun involved in fishing, which lies in the very exploration that would be neatly circumvented by being pointed to a specific spot.

Besides, the truth is that the best way to be able to just go out and catch a fish is to learn how to fish, and you can’t learn how to fish just by being told exactly how to catch a fish.