I have been fishing for 60 years and started tying my own knots at age five. But last week a very disconcerting thing happened to me.
I was fishing with fly rod and popping bugs for bass and large bluegill and shellcracker.
The bug I was using insisted on rolling over continually no matter how I trimmed it, so I bit it off the leader tippet to change to another. I was using a 3.5 lb test tippet, which is very small diameter.
I couldn't tie the bug on! I have carried reading glasses (magnifiers) for years now to use when tying knots. But even with the glasses I simply could not complete a knot.
I even reverted to the plain old cinch knot, but couldn't accomplish that either, let alone tie an improved cinch. It took about 30 minutes of total frustration before I got the new bug tied on, finally executing an acceptable Orvis knot.
Back home later, I sat on the back porch and practiced knots. I found that the Orvis knot is the easiest for me to tie, and it is a knot that has never failed me with a fish on.
Also, I must start usng larger tippets, since a five pound tippet usually suffices in the murky water I usually fish and is much easier to knot than a 3.5.
Getting old sucks, but not fishing anymore is not an option. I usually fish alone, and my family worries about that. However, having spent a year at a nursing home with my daughter after a hit and run left her comatose, I have advised the family that if I am found floating face down one of these days instead of dying in a nursing home, just say "He went out on top."
I was fishing with fly rod and popping bugs for bass and large bluegill and shellcracker.
The bug I was using insisted on rolling over continually no matter how I trimmed it, so I bit it off the leader tippet to change to another. I was using a 3.5 lb test tippet, which is very small diameter.
I couldn't tie the bug on! I have carried reading glasses (magnifiers) for years now to use when tying knots. But even with the glasses I simply could not complete a knot.
I even reverted to the plain old cinch knot, but couldn't accomplish that either, let alone tie an improved cinch. It took about 30 minutes of total frustration before I got the new bug tied on, finally executing an acceptable Orvis knot.
Back home later, I sat on the back porch and practiced knots. I found that the Orvis knot is the easiest for me to tie, and it is a knot that has never failed me with a fish on.
Also, I must start usng larger tippets, since a five pound tippet usually suffices in the murky water I usually fish and is much easier to knot than a 3.5.
Getting old sucks, but not fishing anymore is not an option. I usually fish alone, and my family worries about that. However, having spent a year at a nursing home with my daughter after a hit and run left her comatose, I have advised the family that if I am found floating face down one of these days instead of dying in a nursing home, just say "He went out on top."
