The Kudzu Files

A little time to kick back

Spent a couple of days in the country, no phone, no internet, no cable or satellite TV. Grilled some great pork chops, slept on a screened porch. Rediscovered fly fishing. Now, I'm not good at fly fishing, and it's been 7-8 years since the last time I did it. But there's something almost zen-like watching the line play out across the surface of the water. Maybe one in ten of my casts will do that nice roll that ends with the fly landing perfectly in the midst of a small ripple. But that one cast is worth the nine that fail. Many years ago, I spent hours and hours fishing for large-mouth bass. I did the whole Bass Angler's thing - I would fish with five or six rods ready, one with a worm, maybe another with a different colored worm, one with a spinner bait, a crank bait in case we found a deep honey hole, a buzz bait in case the lily pads looked good. I had three tackle boxes, and was convinced that I needed all three. I still have the rods and reels, and the tackle boxes. Most haven't been used in 20 years or more. This weekend, I had one fly rod, and a few flies, and that seemed more than enough. I caught about a dozen blue gills and redears, and had a fine time, amidst a lot less clutter.