the 5 p's

proper planning prevents poor presentation

have you ever heard that before?  i'm not sure how widespread the use of the so-called "5 p's" is, but i remember hearing it here and there growing up.  it was of course relative to giving a presentation to an audience, but in fly fishing there is a concept referred to as "presentation" as well.  this refers to how well you "present" to a different sort of audience....  that being the trout.  the subject of your presentation:  your fly.


the idea of "planning" was something on my mind as i headed to the kinnickinnic this week.  i had to plan weeks in advance to schedule getting off of work early. i had to plan the time off with kellie to make sure we had our children covered in my absence.  i had to plan for the outing itself, for which the first time i used a "checklist", an idea suggested by joe.  and if we consider practice a part of planning, i had been outside a few days in the past weeks practicing my casting skills in the front yard.


on top of all of this, i had invited my good friend bill to come along for the trip since he was on spring break (he is a math teacher).  however, in the end, it was decided that we had not adequately planned for him to join for the first time, and would likely result in a less than favorable experience with the logistics involved in heading out to the stream....   especially for the first time.


so there were many seemingly unrelated themes tying back to the importance of planning.  i didn't intentionally plan on writing about my two parents in my first two posts on this blog, but its interesting to me that the themes that have come to mind for the first two have connected rather clearly in my mind to childhood experiences of my parents.  my last blog had to do with "doing a job well."  this blog is focusing on the importance of planning.


my mother was amazing at this, and probably single handedly made at least a handful or two of our vacations twice as enjoyable as they would have been otherwise because of her attention to detail, and her gift (or pure choice perhaps??) of being able to plan well.  that has rubbed off on me in many ways.  i love to be spontaneous, and probably more than an average person....  but i've found that even in spontaneity, a modicum of strategic planning can make your spontaneous moments much more successful, memorable, and rewarding.


fishing yesterday illustrated this point numerous times, but none more clearly than as the setting sun approached the horizon just prior to nightfall.  as the day was coming to a close, i was fishing up stream from joe.  we had both sort of silently (maybe just subconsciously) decided to fish further apart than we otherwise had for most of the day, to wrap up what had become a near perfect day of fishing.

i am just learning what it means to be a fly fisherman, and in my infancy, i have not spent much time focusing on interpreting my environment (a very important skill for a fly fisherman).  but this evening i noticed a hatch had taken place, and there were ubiquitous bugs flying around me just above the surface of the water.  all day i had been fishing successfully with nymphs (which are a sub-surface pattern).  but along with the apparent hatch taking place, i was seeing the trout hit the surface.


apparently they were hungry and finding interest in what was above the surface of the water as they would poke their heads out, some more than others, to swallow whatever their eyes were targeting.


really for the first time since i began fishing last summer, i made the call to switch flies (without joe's advice :), and go with an elk hair caddis which is a dry fly that floats on the surface of the water if cast well.  i was relatively pleased with my casting (joe had been working with me all day mind you), and my presentation was solid.  presentation with a dry fly is especially important as you want to minimize "slapping" of the water with your line or with the fly itself.  the point is to have your fly come to the surface rather gingerly, mimicking the gentle motion of a real fly.


i casted probably 10 times and was not having any luck, and was starting to doubt my wisdom, when all of a sudden, SPLOOSH!  a respectably sized trout decided he liked what i had offered and took the fly into his mouth.  instinctively i followed suit with a lifting of my rod tip and a tightening of the fly line as i set the hook.  lucky for me, i had played it well, and the trout remained on the end of my line.


i netted the trout, and beamed inside as i had my first success after environment interpretation.  it was an extremely rewarding experience.  and it was at the helm of a spontaneous decision, but one based upon prior practice, preaching (a nice "p" word for "instruction", and more accurate to how joe has learned to speak to me :), and planning.  it was a fish caught that not just anyone would have netted.  that fish was the result of having been a diligent student, and it felt real good.


it was the last catch of the day for me, and it capped off what was a simply glorious afternoon.  one which offered to us mid-50s for temps, sunshine, and a near record trout count for me (6 or 7...   lost count...  7 would break my record), and a near trophy fish for joe ;)  (poor joe....    we both saw it on the end of his line....  i was there....   but we'll never know exactly how big that guy was.......  poor joe  :)


my spirit itches for summer as we've gotten a foretaste of glory divine, but with days like this....   i won't have trouble being too impatient....