Fishing School Days

Fishing school may sound like a silly idea. But
think about this: where do you go to learn about
outdoor recreation? Nowadays, just about anywhere. No
matter what you’re outdoor sports interest, there
are schools for it. This is perhaps most apparent when
it comes to fly fishing. Whether you’re looking for
raw basics or advanced techniques, there’s a class for you.

Lessons? Lessons? We don’t need no stinkin’ lessons!”

Wasn’t too long ago that was the prevailing attitude about outdoor recreation. You learned outdoor skills at your Daddy’s knee, or picked them up as you went along. But you certainly didn’t take lessons.

All that has changed. The growth of Sporting Clays, for instance, taught us that shooting was no different than golf or tennis. If we wanted to learn, it made sense to go to a pro.

Same thing with fly fishing. While you can pick up the specialized skills and techniques on your own, you shorten the process, and don’t pick up any bad habits, if you go to a fly fishing school for professional lessons.

When Friend Wife decided to take up fly fishing I learned another part of that equation. There are certain things you cannot teach a spouse. Driving a car comes to mind. Fly fishing is definitely another. So we sent her off to one of the established fly fishing schools, where she actually absorbed lessons I had trouble teaching her. She quickly learned techniques I couldn’t get through to her in three months. And, the crowning touch, were the browns and rainbows she caught as part of the fly fishing school.

But even veterans of the long rod can learn from a pro, which is why I attended one of Harry Murray’s two-day smallmouth fishing schools awhile back. Known as “Mr. Smallmouth” in fly fishing circles, Murray has been teaching his techniques to others for more than three decades. Frankly, I learned more in that two days with him then I had in the previous ten years on my own.

Nor was I alone in that. Five other students---most of whom were rank beginners---were catching fish right from the get go. One lady, in fact, who had never had a flyrod in her hands before, barely got her waders wet before catching her first smallmouth.

I watched her carefully work her way downstream to where a gravel bar created an edge. Working out some line, she cast a hellgrammite patters slightly upstream and worked it back down.

The third time she did that the fly had barely moved when a smallie decided it was lunch. Not a trophy, by any means. But a pound and a half bronzeback, the first time you’ve ever fished for them, is not a bad fish. Her smile was a big as the bass as she gently released it.

Catching fish while attending fishing school is certainly a nice touch. But it isn’t the point of Murray’s classes. “My goal isn’t to have students catch a lot of fish while I’m with them,” the dean of smallmouth fly fishing told me. “It’s for them to learn enough so that next week they can go out and catch fish on their own.”

Murray’s fishing schools are all run the same way. Each day starts with classroom work, which is followed by putting the lessons of the day to work on the nearby Shenandoah River. Murray controls a section of private water that contains virtually all the conditions you’ll likely encounter on any smallmouth stream. So it’s easy, once you’re home, to apply the lessons from fishing school on your own water.

The first morning was dedicated to the basics of where to find smallmouth, and how to fish for them. In short, reading water and fly presentation, along with some pointers about which fly to use under what conditions.

Less than two hours are spent in the classroom. Then it’s on to the water. Some time is first spent in casting instruction for those who need it, with Murray spending enough time with the students to assure that their casting is up to snuff. Then they hit the water. “Casting is probably the least important thing that I’m concerned about teaching, because they’re going to pick up the casting eventually,” he says.

This doesn’t mean that beginners or poor casters are given short shift. Every student gets individualized instruction. It’s just that at Murray’s fishing schools, the emphasis is placed on learning how to fish. And that’s done in the water.

Murray and at least one of his guides move up and down stream, providing one-on-one instruction to each student. The lessons learned in the classroom are reinforced, and each student’s technique is fine-tuned.

“Put the fly a little higher,” he might instruct one student. Or “move to the right a couple of steps, so the fly will follow the drift you’re trying for.” These instructions usually are followed by yelps of joy when a smallmouth hits the fly.

For the more advanced fly fisherman there is plenty to learn as well. “They’re obviously not interested in the basics of knot tying and casting,” Murray says. “But maybe they want to learn one refinement, or a couple of sophisticated techniques new to them. We’re right there on the water, teaching them what they want to learn.”

I had been fly fishing about 35 years when I attended that school. But I came away as both a better fly fisher, and as a better bass fisherman. Which is the real lesson: everybody can improve their skills by attending school.