You can tell a lot about a fly angler from a quick look at their leader. If there was an educational course for working at a fly shop, that’s something the teacher would share early on. And I’ve seen this trick pulled countless times in shops, when the answer-to-question ratio was getting pretty thin . . .

“Hey, go grab your reel, and let’s see how you have things set up.”

I was young and curious when I walked into my first fly shop. My queries about fishing methods were returned with a number of technical questions from the shop owner, Woody. And I didn’t have the right answers. To which, Woody nodded and spoke succinctly . . .

“Well, why don’t you bring your reel in here, and we’ll take a look at that leader.”

I was happy to hand over my reel to someone who could tell me if I was doing anything right, and I’ll never forget Woody’s first comment.

While holding the thin junction of 6X to 7X in his hands, he tugged a bit.

“Why the tiny tippet?” Woody asked.

“I’ve been fishing midge dry flies,” I replied. (I was pretty sure that’s what I was supposed to be doing.)

Woody then rolled the barrels of monofilament in his fingers and judged my knot through his bifocals. “Well, Dom, it looks like you can tie a good Blood Knot!”

I was proud of that and took it as a compliment, because I’d spent the better part of an evening teaching myself the odd finger roll for the Blood Knot, especially from my left hand.

Before I left that day, Woody showed me the Double Surgeon’s Knot that he said would be easier to tie in the skinniest tippet sections. On the way home I realized that Woody’s compliment about my Blood Knots had also come with a reserved reprimand, five minutes later.

That was Woody’s style. Strict, to the point, friendly and honest. I learned that about him the next time I walked into the shop, when, in no time at all, I asked about where I might find a few wild trout in Western Pennsylvania.

Without pause, Woody had the best reply for a new stranger who might one day be a customer.

“Well, if you start coming in here and buying stuff once in a while, I can eventually tell you stuff like that.”

See what I mean? Strict. Fair. Honest.

Fish hard, friends.

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Enjoy the day.
Domenick Swentosky
T R O U T B I T T E N
domenick@troutbitten.com