While I would generally agree with Tom Chandler‘s comment in his The Trout Underground blog that “fly fishing is how some of us convert our spare time into sanity,” it’s the process of transitioning from a spincast fisher to fly fisher that may push me a bit closer to insanity for a short period of time. Thank goodness the fly fishing class that Christopher and I attended last Saturday went a long way toward easing this insanity.

Don’t get me wrong. I plan to enjoy fly fishing. It will be fun.

This class, put on by the Diablo Valley Fly Fishermen was a great way to get a leg up on learning about the sport. It also taught me that learning to cast well doesn’t require a stream or a river or a lake, but fly fishing a stream or a river or a lake does require casting well. For now, though may casting did improve last Saturday with a greater understanding of the basics, is decidedly not graceful. My general knowledge received a huge boost as did the inventory of knots I know how to tie. However, any boost to confidence was quickly tempered by the revelation that I have so much more to learn to become a proficient fly fisher. And there’s that casting thing again.

But I didn’t enter fly fishing to become a master. Realistically, I expect that for the next few years, maybe ten or twenty, the catching and landing of a fish on my fly rod is likely to be better described as a happy accident.