If you have not read any of Bill Tapply‘s work then you have missed out. Phil Monahan over at Orvis.com has started to bring back some of Bill’s articles for their website. The first, “The Truth about Fly Fishermen,” conjured up thoughts of the all too often negative comments in various forms about tenkara or even more silly, what is and is not tenkara.
“One of them damn anglers.”
Spoken as if the word angler were a disgusting waste product.
“Dry-fly snob. Thinks he’s better’n the rest of us.”
“Yeah, no kidding. I heard one of them poles he’s using costs over a hundred bucks.”
And so forth. I’d been hearing it all my life.
Substitute “tenkara” for “dry fly” and you get the picture.
I won’t spoil the story but here is Tapply’s punch line:
“Wanted to see how it was done. I’ve always thought that fly fishing was so cool but figured it was too hard for an old dog to learn. You made it look easy.”
“It is easy,” I said.
“Looks like a lot of fun,” he said. “I gotta learn how to do that.”
“Really?” I said. “You want to be a fly fisherman?”
“Yeah. I always have.”
“We’re terrible snobs, you know.”
They both laughed as if they didn’t believe me.
Next time you feel compelled to offer up your opinion on what is or is not the right way to fish, and I don’t care what type of fishing it is, you would be well advised to read Tapply’s story again. There is no room in the sport for snobs.
