I resisted fly fishing for 30 years, but when I tried it in Montana and subsequently in Alaska, I loved it. I still don’t know much about the tackle, or the flies, and I’m sure that my casting looks like a grown man trying to swat a bee with a tennis racket in a phone booth, but I nevertheless can’t wait to do it again.
For similarly undefined reasons, I really didn’t get into the saltwater chase until we went to Guatemala last year. Sure I’d caught bluefish and stripers as a kid, I’ve chased redfish a couple of times in Venice, and my dad and I went to Costa Rica in 1995, but there was no continuity to the pursuit.. Now I want it again and again and again In fact, next week’s trip to Panama where we will – among other things – target big yellowfin tuna with topwaters, has me more excited than any trip in a long time. That’s saying a lot, because I get excited about all of them. Maybe it’s the light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel with respect to COVID, or the fact that it’s an altogether new country, but I’m driven to distraction by all of the videos of Panama I’ve watched (some of them multiple times).
Someone asked me recently if I had to give up the saltwater fishing for bass fishing, or vice versa, what choice would I make. Obviously, it’s not something that’s likely to happen, but it wouldn’t be easy. This week I’d give up the largies, but right before the next trip to El Salto I’d probably flip-flop. I’m glad that I don’t have to make that choice, mostly because I’ve yet to find a type of fishing that I’ve disliked or not wanted to repeat. I probably wouldn’t rush back to go ice fishing or casting for muskies, having enjoyed good experiences with both, but I wouldn’t turn them down, either.
As Hanna and I have embraced our travel lust with our Half Past First Cast website, it has given us the opportunity to embrace new venues. I keep expecting to dislike one of them, or at least get only a lukewarm case of the feelies from it, but so far they’ve all merited repeat visits. Either we have a really good sense of how to pick destinations, or I have a really bad addiction.
