Caught on the Fly: Relaxing midstream is the fly-fisher's dreamAuthor(s): JILL SCHACHNER CHANENSource: ABA Journal, Vol. 83, No. 9 (SEPTEMBER 1997), pp. 86-87Published by: American Bar AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27840021 .

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OUT OF THE OFFICE

Caught

on the

Fly Relaxing midstream is the

fly-fisher's dream BY JILL SCHACHNER CHANEN

Tramping down a hidden path through the tree-lined banks of the Potomac River, just a mile or so from a traffic-snarled bridge that connects Maryland to Virginia, Robert Hayes sometimes swears he is in Montana.

With the sky a dazzling blue, the trees a lush, lush green and geese honking overhead, the fishing and scenery on the Potomac can rival the crystal clear trout streams of the West.

Donning a pair of waders, Hayes scans the air and the river's surface at his favorite local fishing hole to see what's buzzing around his head before he descends into the clear water. With the river gen tly nipping at his legs, he quickly ties a fly onto his line before send ing it to a spot in the water where the fish seem to be nibbling at bugs hatching on the surface. As he walks across the river's rocky floor, Hayes' eyes barely move from the congregation of small-mouthed bass rising to inspect the bait.

Just as one begins to nibble, Hayes swings into action. Backing up onto the shore, he gathers the line, deftly tipping and lifting his rod to get the fight out of the fish before reeling it in alive. Then, with the efficiency of an expert angler, Hayes removes the hook from the fish's mouth and tosses his catch back into the water. A smile crosses his face as he watches it swim away, knowing that both he and the bass will be back for another day.

Jill Schachner Chanen, a law yer, writes regularly for the ABA Journal.

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"The key to fly-fishing is that it is not just mindless," says Hayes of Ball Janik in Washington, D.C. Be sides the Potomac, his favorite fish ing holes include the Bahamas for bonefish and Port O'Connor, Texas, for redfish. "If you are going to catch fish, you have to pay attention. If you are concentrating on the fish ing, you are not thinking about fil ing that brief... or all the other stuff that occupies our minds as lawyers. You are just concentrating on fish ing. You are removing yourself to a different world."

A natural resources lawyer, Hayes reacquainted himself with the sport of fly-fishing 15 years ago when one of the tackle manufactur ers he represents asked him to join its executives on a fishing expedi tion. "These are some of the best

fishermen in the country with all the equipment," he recalls. "In order not to embarrass myself I began learning how to fish at their level."

Getting Your Feel Wet Though some anglers spend dec

ades perfecting their casting tech niques, basic fly-fishing skills can be learned relatively quickly. "All you really need is someone to show you how to cast the line. That is the key," says Jennifer Ehrmantraut, a

fly-fishing lawyer from Michigan who recently moved to Chicago.

Unlike regular spin-casting rods, fly rods cannot accommodate the weighted hooks and bobbers that allow the angler to cast the line with ease. Instead, the flyline itself is weighted with lead, and fly fishers must master the art of toss

86 ABA JOURNAL / SEPTEMBER 1997

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ing an ultrathin line some 70-100 feet to where fish are skimming the surface to nibble on insects hatch ing on the river, Hayes explains.

Expert fly-fishers often become consumed with other elements re lated to the streams and rivers they fish, such as studying fish, birds or

botany and "matching the hatch" with a compatible fly lure says Max Wildman of the Chicago firm of Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon. "Streams are like people. Each one has a different personality."

Throughout all but the coldest months, insects continually hatch on rivers' surfaces. As they hatch, fish rise up to feed on them. Avid fly-fishers learn to craft artificial flies out of feathers and fur to match the appearance of whatever is hatching on the water.

The art of matching the hatch sometimes becomes something of a science, Wildman says. "Some fish ermen argue that the flies ought to be realistic and look like the real thing. Others, like myself, are more from the impressionist school. We just give them the impression that the fly tie is food," he says.

Because fly-fishing requires more finesse than upper body strength, an increasing number of women have taken to the sport of late, according to the American

Sportfishing Association in Arling ton, Va.

As a child, Ehrmantraut envi ously watched her father and broth er fly-fish for trout on the Ausable River in Michigan. When she final ly waded into the water for the first time five years ago?after her fa ther was convinced she would fit into a pair of men's chest waders,

which are necessary for fishing in cold water?she was hooked.

"It is pretty magical," she says. "You get very absorbed in the whole process. You are out in the middle of the river, and it is so peaceful and re

laxing. But it also is really interest ing because you have to be so aware of what is going on around you."

The fly-fishing experiences of Ehrmantraut, a recent admittee to the Michigan and Illinois bars, bear

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out the statistics on the sport. Of the nearly 8 million people who fly-fished in 1995, the sportfishing association reports, 80 percent did it more for the relaxation than for the fishing. And, adds Michael Nussman, the association's vice president for con

gressional affairs, fly-fishers are

quite likely to hold graduate degrees. Ehrmantraut explains the al

lure: "It is really a good way to get away from it all, especially if you live in a city. It is a sport which requires a lot of attention to detail and obser

vation and patience. It also is relax ing because you realize that there is a whole different world going on that is unrelated to your normal day."

Humble Fly Wildman points out that fly

fishing can be an important lesson in humility for any lawyer. "We all tend to get too impressed with ourselves," he says. "But when you think you are just about to beach that salmon, and he gives you one more flop and gets away, all you can do is watch him swim away through the current. That will teach you. You begin to realize that you do not know it all."

A dedicated fly-fisher since re

turning from a tour of duty in World War II, Wildman has fished around the world, including the icy seas near the Arctic Circle in Russia, the

Patagonia region in Argentina m and Chile, and the salt waters of

g the Caribbean. The sport can be

m addictive, he says, because of all the different elements a fly-fish er must master in each environ ment, including when to let go of a prized catch.

On a recent trip to Alaska's Bristol Bay, Wildman recalls, he was champing at the bit to catch a salmon. As soon as he hooked one, a brown bear of enormous

proportions emerged from the woods with a hungry look in its eyes. "My guide told me to throw it," Wildman remembers with a

hearty chuckle. "I didn't waste any time. I threw it 30 feet. I did

?i not want to tangle with the bear when he decided that he wanted

Imy salmon."

Though he once fly-fished with baseball great Ted Williams ?the expedition with the legend was a gift from a grateful tackle manufacturing client after a ma

jor court victory?it is the total ity of the experience that Wild

man savors most.

He puts it this way: "When you are walking around in the out doors early in the morning and you come across a great big moose hav ing a drink from a stream, and he looks up at you with water still dripping from his chin and asks, 'What are you doing here?' and then you hear the flapping of a beaver's tail, and you know there is one around the next bend hard at work, and then you see a big blue heron swooping down into the river to fish, you realize that this is what life and God is all about."

ABAJ/PETE souzA ABA JOURNAL / SEPTEMBER 1997 87

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