One of the greatest pleasures of traveling is meeting people you would never come across otherwise! And I feel, I should try and share some of those travel acquaintances with you - when I find the time. So far, I have to admit, I did not... And I have already meet so many really great people.
Yesterday, I had a very interesting and educational chat with Evan. He really did a great job in explaining to me what he was doing and why. I had never thought Fly Fishing would be such a complex (and fascinating, I must admit!) thing. I do feel, I lack the knowledge to explain properly what I have learned yesterday, but I will nevertheless try. (Evan, should you be reading this, please correct me where I err!)
So where to start? Let's try to understand what you see in the attached pictures. Fly-making is an art of its own - and Evan certainly is a master in his profession!. On the huge table he had about twenty zip-lock bags scattered around, all stuffed with materials such as Elk hair, Fasan feathers (one single bag just dedicated to about thirty different sort of chicken feathers!), UV reflecting synthetics, thread, beads, and what not. All raw fly material. Depending on the area, the time of day (different bugs hatch at different time of day!), fish, season and all sorts of parameters you choose the right fly to fish. So at any time Evan would carry around a stock of about 300 - 400 different flies (with many copies each) so he can choose the right species. And they are all delicate little pieces of art! And all handmade by the fisherman. It is probably very hard to see, but on one of the pictures you can see some examples in the foreground; 'Tschernobyl Ants' (big black things in front) an a few more other - more conventional - flies behind from the ongoing production. Then there is the set of dedicated tools for the fly-making. It was actually a pleasure watching Evan putting the flies together - every tiny little move obviously practiced many thousand times! A semi-trancelike process, it seemed.
I blundered and showed my ignorance by asking if he liked to eat the fish he caught. But his explication that the whole process of preparing, getting to know the river and the setting, and the actual fishing would be spoiled by killing the fish after he caught one, does make sense to me. It is all rather a meditative practice (a way of life?!), than a way to come by food. There are supermarkets around for the latter purpose, I guess. This is why a dedicated pincer is used to remove the barb from the hooks, in order not to harm the fish more than necessary.
I feel there is a lot I have been missing and forgot to mention. If I have time, I might catch up with Evan, ask more questions, and even go for a couple of days fishing with him. I would certainly like to! This is to say, if our trails cross again in the future, since he has already left today for El Bolsón in the south... We will see.