Trout fishing and Addiction

by Alistair

You know, fishing for trout with a fly rod is like an addiction- a serious addiction. It was Robert Traver my most favourite author who said:

“The true trout fisherman is like a drug addict; he dwells in a tight little dream world all his own, and the men about him, whom he observes obliviously spending their days pursing money and power, genuinely puzzle him, as he doubtless does them.”

I don’t want to belittle people out there that do have a drug addiction but I often think that my friends and I might just be addicted to fly fishing for trout. A lot of people I work with in the course of my job have serious drug/alcohol addictions; at the start of my involvement with them I must undertake an assessment of their needs. A lot of the time we discuss what causes there addiction and how it makes them feel. One thing they always talk about is the fact that their drug of choice is always at the back of their mind, they constantly wonder about the next time they will get it. If they have not had it for a while they cannot think about anything else and if they have just had it they talk about the calm that can come over them before the need for the next fix begins to itch.

 

My Self Assessment

It was after a conversation with a couple of pals the other day that I suddenly realised we are addicted to trout fishing. Big trout, small trout it does not matter as long as it has been caught on a fly rod with a fly then all the better. Over here in the UK we still have another 30 odd days before the season opens, this is after around 4 months of no trout fishing at all. It focuses the mind somewhat on the symptoms which I shall list here for your convenience:

  • At least once an hour you imagine a trout sipping down a dry fly.
  • You try and have an in-depth conversation regarding entomology with your wife.
  • Weather forecasts take on a whole new meaning.
  • You book your wifes surprise 30th birthday holiday in New York before you leave you order a Sage rod from The Urban Angler and tell your wife you have to go and pick it up the day you arrive.

 

So maybe what I am saying here is that people with such a serious trout addiction such as ours just don’t think straight – we get our priorities in life mixed up. But then I always say any addiction that forces you to get out in the fresh air, think about the environment, maybe catch a trout and possibly even keep you out of serious trouble cant be all bad.

All true my friends, all true – we go to New York on Friday.

 

 

17 thoughts on “Trout fishing and Addiction”

  1. And the next stage of fly fishing addiction?

    You decide your 9-5 desk bound job is deeply unforfilling, you jack it in and start guiding full-time!

  7. I AM a serious trout angler-when i fish for them,but for the past ten years i have spent far too little time in pursuit of “trutta”because of my addiction to”salar”.I just had a good idea-why dont we combine our knowledge of the fishing in the kelvin-between us we could make a cracking little dvd showing all aspects of the river we value so highly?You and your buddies could cover the trout side-and the salmon and sea trout could be handled from my side-with help from other anglers(someone has to work the camera).It is very rewarding,and you have a great way to relive the past seasons highs and lows.

  8. Ugh videos – one brush with moving pictures was enough for me – I now stick to still images 🙂

    Contact me through the contact form and make sure you put your correct email addy. I will then mail you back with my email addy for the photographs.

    Alistair

  9. Dont be too hasty alistair-this would turn out a whole lot better.If you want, i’ll give you a look at my previous efforts and then you can decide what to do next-i’m sure all fellow kelvinators would love to see the results of this at the end of the season-and you could edit it in any way you see fit-want to be a star bud?

  10. 🙂

    I used to have a page up that stated 100 things about me- it was a fad which people did on their blogs at one time. One of the 100 things about me is that I am in fact incredibly shy to the point of awkwardness with people I do not know well – my only extrovert tendencies are displayed through this diary and blog.
    Video scares me!

    Tell you what though, throughout the season send me any pictures of Salmon you are catching and I will post them 🙂

    Alistair

    ps, check out the comments here

  11. I will,no bother,it’s ashame you’re not into the dvd though-like i said,you could edit out any bits you did not like-and the names could be changed to protect the innocent….

  14. Hey Charlie, that email addy is not working….thats the one I tried last week and it just gets bounced back ?

    You mistyping something ?

    Alistair

  15. Alex,
    I had some great sport on another river last weekend with grayling to 2lbs, would you be interested in hooking up for a grayling session over the next couple of weeks. If so, Alistair has my contact details

  16. Hi Alan

    You bet – sounds great! I think the rivers are maybe a bit more settled than they were last month. I will be in touch!

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