[at-l] Psycho Fly Fishers (long)---

[lbooher at pure.net (Leslie Booher)]

We have so much in common with this group.  We are not alone.  <G>  And they weren't far from us when we were at Trail Days.  It was right spooky reading the article.  I didn't put OT in the subject line, because I'm not sure that it is.  anklebear


Psycho Fly Fishers have the right idea

      BY DAN GENEST
      TIMES-DISPATCH CORRESPONDENT May 20, 2005 


SHADY VALLEY, Tenn. They came from Ohio, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, Georgia and states in between.

They were driving SUVs, vans and sedans . . . packed to the roof with camping equipment, cooking gear, food and drink, and assembled a village.

Farmer Max Yasgur, who leased his land in upstate New York for the Woodstock concert more than 40 years ago, said they came for "fun and nothing but fun."

And fly fishing.

Did I mention fly fishing? Long, thin rods. Wispy lines. Lures of feather and hackle. And the promise of trout -- wild rainbows, stream-born browns and native brookies -- is what lured 75 people to this out-of-the-way corner near the junction of Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee.

That, and the camaraderie of those who share their love of a sport, is part science, more than a little mysticism, a dollop of luck and a dash of frustration. They came for the campfires, good food and to share stories and tell lies.

Call it a gathering, a conclave or, like the mountain men of the 1830s, a rendezvous. These die-hard anglers -- professional guides, renowned fly tiers, fly-shop owners, outdoor writers, Trout Unlimited officials and chapter presidents, Fly Fishing Federation casting instructors and duffers -- call it PFF V11.

PFF. That stands for Psycho Fly Fishers, a sobriquet that this bunch wears proudly. Each spring and fall since 2000, the group has gathered. The event May 12-15 was the eleventh PFF, or version 11.

"It is really amazing how it has grown," said Harvey Wall, owner of High Country Fly Shop, a fly fishing store in Elkin, N.C. "The first year, there was only a handful of people. Now, with as popular as it is getting, we may have to put a cap on attendance."

Wall is unofficially the sponsor of the event because those who attend are members of the Southern Fly Fishers Forum, a Web-based message board dealing with all issues fly-fishing related. Wall sponsors the Southern Fly Fishers Forum through his shop's Web site at www.highcountryflyshop.com. To visit the forum, click on "fly fishing forum" at the bottom left of the page.

Forum members generally go by screen names such as "Fishchick," "Streamer," "Croaker," "Flydoctor," and "Damselfly."

"You exchange messages with these people over the board, but you don't know what they look like or in many cases their real names," said Ralph "Outdoorguy3" Mueller of Raleigh, N.C. "PFF gives you a chance to put screen names, real names and faces together."

Sitting around the fire late one evening, Keith "Woolly Bugger" Kolischak from Winston-Salem, N.C., may have summed it up best: "Fly fishing is what brings us together, but the fishing really becomes secondary to making new friends."

Fly fishing may be secondary, but not by much. The camping location sits conveniently located to some of the best trout fishing in three states. Within 45 minutes of Shady Valley, anglers could select from at least two dozen rivers.

The streams range from small creeks less than 10 feet across, whose locations are guarded by those who fish them, to wide, well-known rivers. Regardless of size, they run clear and cold year-round and support wild and native trout.

"You couldn't ask for a better location," said Brittan Quinn, attending the PFF as a representative of the Richmond-based Fly Fishers of Virginia. "I never knew there were so many terrific places to fish."

Whitetop Laurel, one of the best trout streams in Virginia, provides more than 17 miles of trout water as it flows down the mountains toward the town of Damascus. Beaverdam Creek offers a dozen or more good miles of stocked and wild trout fishing as it flows out of Shady Valley toward Virginia.

Each morning, the attendees would fan out across the area to fish. In the evening, they would compare notes of successes and near misses.

"Yes, sir. We had a pretty decent day over at Buller [South Fork of the Holston River near Sugar Grove]," New Market's Brent Golladay said.

"We picked up a few in the morning, but it got real tough in the afternoon," said Jack "Peddler" Cummings, a certified casting instructor for the Federation of Fly Fishers, after a long day on the Holston River tailwater near Bristol, Tenn.

In fact, the fishing, the food, the friends and the fun were so good that the weather couldn't dampen the enthusiasm. Three days of twice-a-day thunderstorms turned the camp site into a muddy quagmire. Four-wheel drive vehicles got stuck trying to pull out two-wheel drive cars sunk to the hubcaps in slop. Folks took to wearing their boots and waders from dawn to bedtime.

Kim "Fishchick" Ryals, the Southeastern Coordinator for Trout Unlimited, wrote of PFF V11 on the Southern Fly Fishers Forum that she remembered standing "ankle deep in water, watching lightning bolts get closer and closer. . . . Can't wait till next time"

A sentiment that was universally shared by all who attended. What else would you expect from a Psycho Fly Fisher?