I could see the backing...

"Self" as usual gave a snarky reply about my angling skills or lack of same. Fortunately, I have learned to pay scant attention to personal abuse when it emanates from such an untrustworthy source.

I have many piscatorial accomplishments with which to preen and gloat, I am just too modest to expose them to public viewing. Why would I speak or write about screaming fly reels as if they were unusual. Most of my fly reels make either screaming or grinding noises every time I turn the crank. And most of my fishing companions make sounds every time they see me cast.

Sounds are cheap. For ten years I never washed my fishing vest, secure in the knowledge that the Luck was intact. Eventually I noticed that when traveling to the stream in a closed car with others, protracted gasping sounds were not unusual. I assumed that the noise was caused by the car straining under the weight of several of my rotund friends - yet the sound disappeared at the same time that my dear wife bought me a new fishing vest. Coincidence?

So it would appear that all elements of fishing have their sounds. The shouts of surprise when I enter camp in the evening with a fish, no matter the size; the squishy sound of walking back to the car after spending a warm summer afternoon in breathable waders that don't; the dull "Tunk" as my net strikes me in the back of the head, lauched by its bungee cord; the echo from the hills as a friend runs shrieking from an outraged beaver after falling into its lodge. All of these, and more, are the sounds of fishing - who needs a screaming reel?

© 2006 Reed F. Curry