Slim Randles'  Home Country

A lesson on life and love, flash and substance

Part 4: The application

(See Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)

[March 19, 2010]  There's nothing quite like the advice of an old-timer to make a young fellow pay attention. No one could ever say that young Randall Jones wasn't respectful of his elders, either. That's why he was up at dawn this summer morning, down at Lewis Creek with a borrowed fly rod and 10 minutes of instructions on casting. He wasn't sure exactly why Mr. Pincus told him fly fishing was a metaphor for love and life, but it does give a guy something to think about while he's fishing.

There was a reason he was given these two particular flies, and he meant to find out what it was.

He got to where he could cast out about 20 feet without getting the fly hooked in the willows, and after an hour and a change of flies, had two nice trout. That's when he looked up to see the back of a man casting long, languidly and balletically just downstream from him.

Randy watched as one watches the practiced hook of a great bowler or the curve ball of a major league pitcher. He recognized the cast. It was Doc. He walked over to watch him close up.

"Hey there, Randy," said Doc, stripping the line in on a wet fly in jerkily smooth motions. "You fishing today? Didn't know you used flies."

"Well, Mr. Pincus called me over to his place the other day ... ."

"Oh, that's right," Doc said, nodding. "And did he have some advice for you about girls?"

"Girls? No. He told me some trout were stupid and some trout were dependable, and ugly brown bugs caught dependable fish."

Doc got a strange look on his face. "But didn't he equate this with courting girls ... you know ... dating, all that?"

"Dating?"

"I mean, wasn't he giving you an example of how to find a good, solid girl?"

"He never mentioned girls, Doc. He just said try the brown ugly flies for some fish and the flashy ones for others."

Doc smiled and nodded wisely. "And did that make sense to you?"

"Not until this morning," Randy Jones said, holding up his two trout. "But now everything is clear. See these? It's obvious that foolish fish are bigger than dependable ones."

[Text from file received from Slim Randles]

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