Introduction

Greg Felt, Ark Anglers, Salida Photo: Jason Starr

One of the rarely discussed components of fly fishing is luck. The proliferation of books, magazines and websites on the sport appears to refine the techniques, equipment and fly patterns to the point where one might well view it all as a science, as if fishing could be reduced to a mathematical equation. Many of these resources, this one included, will help the astute angler to learn more about fish, bugs, and rivers, but it is a rare treatise that will address the critical element of luck. And while this state of affairs suits the analytical, “masculine” mind just fine, it leaves the intuitive, “feminine” side out in the cold. Think of fly fishing like an exclusive men’s club where Lady Luck waits outside the door on a frigid night and you have an image of the intellectual approach that anglers of either gender bring to their fishing.

The more elusive part of the fly fishing duality is rarely addressed because it is poorly understood and even more difficult to communicate. For some, luck is simply another superstition to be banished or, at least, ignored. For others, luck is fundamentally tied to gambling, an association that is best kept quiet lest angling fall from its current status as art or science to the lowly level of vice or misdemeanor. I recently met a man who informed me that he was a professor of fly fishing – while that seemed a stretch it was a lot more plausible than being a professor of keno or roulette. And I think that for others, luck represents chaos, the absence of a perceivable order, and a threat to the analytical mind.

Now, of course, these comments are directed at luck in general. Good luck is certainly welcomed by everyone, regardless of mindset. Who complains about an 18-inch fish striking from a 12 inch lie? Or a smile from a beautiful somebody as one steps out into the cold? Good luck is, well, good luck. Everyone gets some once in a while. But as a fundamental element of fly fishing, is luck simply a probability factor that can be applied to one’s decisions and actions or is it more substantial, an ability or insight that one might cultivate? I ask this rhetorical question because, after years of guiding and observation, I believe that we have more influence over this force than we think. Some concepts:

Photo by Denise Ronald

1. Having an open, objective mind improves your luck. This stands in the way of the argument for superstition and aligns luck with scientific principles of observation. It is not in the spin on events that luck lies but in the perception of the event in the moment. “Making one’s own luck” means recognizing it as it happens. Which leads to the corollary:

2. The quality of one’s luck is a reflection of the attitude one brings to the situation. This is not mind over matter. It is a simple observation that those who maintain a positive attitude, those who remain open to good luck despite the tenor of events, are more likely to experience good luck.

3. Working hard improves your luck. No fish have ever been caught in a fly shop. One has to get out there and, as importantly, stretch oneself. Swim to the far side, beat the brush, try three flies instead of two, mend your drift, and again, and again! This goes beyond the obvious premise that the best fish hide in the hardest to fish places. The very act of reaching, of engaging the river and the fish from an attitude of desire, is the posture of luck. Occasionally luck lands in our lap, but more often we find it dancing at our outstretched fingertips.

4. Intuition is the language of luck. How many times has a guest said to me, “I saw something, but I didn’t think it was a fish”? Sight comes before thought, vision before interpretation. While the conscious analytical human mind is the force behind the many improvements in techniques, equipment and fly patterns, it is also the best defense a fish has against a hook set in the jaw. If an odd spot seems fishy, it is. If you thought maybe you saw a fish, you did. If we agree that there is more to fish and a river than meets the eye, there is doubly more so than meets the brain. Don’t dismiss what you see, or thought you saw, or feel. Go with it.

The pages that follow were written to improve your fishing experience on the Arkansas River and other waters of Central Colorado. The goal is to point you in the right direction, to eliminate some of the pitfalls that could distract you and to equip you with a good working knowledge of these waters and their fish. In doing so, we hope this publication will help you find success, help you find fish. They are hard to see, move in response to currents we do not know, exist in a plane both beautiful and foreign. The embodiment of luck, the best metaphor we have.

— Greg Felt
Ark Anglers, Salida