Other kinds of fishing - fly fishing

I think I have been bubbling so much about salt-water fishing, that I forgot about all the other available types of fishing I have done. I did not start fly fishing until much later in life. I have had a fly rod for a long time - but did not really use it. A girlfriend I was with at the time, was an avid fishergirl. I will do another post on her - she was awesome. Anyhow, her and I took a fly fishing class. Many years later - I started a new job as an outside salesman (>twenty-five (25) years ago), I used to meet all sorts of people - who do all sorts of things. It was always a good thing to look around the client's desk and figure out what they were into. If I saw anything to do with a fish - I could already tell we were going to get along good. One of these guys was a flyfisherman named Mike. Every time I made a sales call at his office, we would invariably talk about fishing. My territory included not only a good portion of SoCal, but Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico. When I would make my rounds - I would carry around a pack-rod, a ultra-light spinning rig. It did not work for everything - but for lakes/rivers/streams, it worked fine. As soon as my last sales call was done for the day, I would find the nearest fishing tackle store, buy a license and ask where the nearest place to fish was. Around Phoenix and Tucson, there were small urban lakes that had the usual bluegill, crappie, bass and catfish - and in the winter-time, planters (trout). Since minimal luggage was always the case, most of what I carried around was 2 and 4 pound test and a bunch of small lures. I must of looked funny - sport coat and tie, with a fishing pole in my hand. There were other places to fish, but they were too out of the way to go. New Mexico was about the same - except in the northwest corner (four corners), there was a small city called Bloomington. Nearby was a 'blue-ribbon' rainbow trout river called the San Juan River. After all the stories I had heard about this place, I met up with a flyfisherman (and aerospace raw material buyer) named Eric - who loved flyfishing. So we planned it and went. First thing I remember is all the concessions were owned by the same guy - Abe. It was Abe's tackle store, Abe's cabins, Abe's Restaurant, Abe's gas station - everything was Abe's. So we checked into one of the cabins and prepared for the next day. Here, I figured out what I needed to do this right. All the little widgets needed for the various tasks. I had enough 'stuff' to fish with - just not very efficiently. The San Juan River was a nice river - in a nice setting. I think at least a part of fly-fishing is the immediate surroundings. The fishing and scenery are equally important for the complete experience. We did not do that well. I think I caught one small rainbow for two days of fishing - not what I would call a banner trip. I watched a fellow fisherman catch one after another - nice fish too. Irritating. I made a mental note of all the things (widgets) that I would acquire for my next trip. Another place I went was in Utah - the Provo River. I had a customer I called on in Spanish Fork - and as usual asked around about the nearest fishing hole. The lower section of the Provo is a slight detour on the way back to Salt Lake City. It was mid-afternoon, my sales call was finished - time to go fishing. I had my usual ultra-light spinning outfit with me, and along with the usual small lures - a few flies in my small tackle box and a small cast-a-bubble. After watching a fly-fisherman catch a few, I decided to rig up my spinning rod with the cast-a-bubble and a fly. A couple of casts later - my first fly-caught brown trout. I went there every time I had sales calls to make around SLC. I talked to my friend Mike and we decided to make a trip there. I also found out that a cousin of a good friend of mine is a guide in SLC and specialized in fishing the Provo and Green. We were set. Not only that, he offered us his guest house to stay in. I have a funny story. The guy who introduced me to his cousin in SLC is Danny. He is a good friend of mine - we've worked together and fished together. It was his cousin Stew that is the fly-fishing guide in SLC. Danny and I are somewhat similar - we are both Japanese, we are both fat, we both have hair on our face - well, all right he has more hair than I do, but similar. The first time I met Stew, we met on the lower section of the Provo. We had already talked on the phone and he gave us the full scoop on where to fish with what. He took one look at me and said, 'Danny, you got taller!!'. After a few minutes of uncontrollable laughter - I knew we were going to get along just fine. Stew had everything in the back of his Suburban - more stuff than I've seen in some stores. He gave us full instructions on how, where and when to fish. The fishing was phenomenal. He stayed with us all day and both Mike and I caught more of the biggest trout we had ever caught in our lives - both Rainbows and Browns. He knew this place. The lower section was somewhat similar in surroundings to the San Juan. But the middle section was very urban. Neither Mike or I would consiider ourselves much more than amateurs at best - and the fishing here made us look and feel like professionals! It was not a place you could make the long 'The River Runs Through It' type of casts - but large and deep enough that you could not walk across it. Of course it helped that a guide was showing us the spots to fish, what to fish with and how to fling it. But the fishing was really good. Mike and I made a trip or so a year for a while. He got married, had a couple of kids and is 'busier than a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest'. We talk on occasion - but have not gone fishing in a while. I intend to show my friend Mark this place. I think he would like it.