Anchored Podcast Ep. 287: The Lost Art of Hand-Tied Flies with Adrian Cortes

Um, and, uh, again, I was scared of sharks in the water, [laughs] and then knowing what was in the water.

Um, but I always wondered if it was the same way with fly fishing, just, you know, the, you know, surfing out there.

It's just weird, right? You go out there, you wait for a set to come in, and then you find the right wave, and then you're done with it, and then it's the...

It's a lifestyle, and to me, that's kinda how, like, fly fishing was, and I think that's what drew me, um, to steelhead.

Uh, I was not a steelhead by, steelheader by choice.

I was a steelheader because, um, I think steelheading called me.

It's weird to say.

I was a trout fisherman.

I wanted to learn everything about trout, technical aspects of trout fishing, um, and somehow, uh, steelheading just, like, uh, called me to it, called me to the challenge 'cause, uh, I read the stories about anglers.

You know, back then it was reading magazines, anglers spending, excuse me, countless hours, um, traveling, spending thousands of dollars just for a tug, you know? And I just thought that was kinda ludicrous, spend my free time instead of catching 12 fish trout on a good day, um, to travel thousands of miles to get that one tug in the miserable rain and cold, and then you're happy about that, and I thought, "That's, that's not my kinda fishing." Um, but being stuck to a, a, an area where I have, like, three steelhead rivers close by, um, I realized that, you know, I might as well give this a shot, and that's what really, uh, kinda cemented my joy of steelheading.

Um, and, and, uh, I think, uh, what kept me in it where I'm not, you know, "Well, okay, Adrian, you caught steelhead.

What's next?" I think what kept me in steelheading is, um, the, uh, tradition.

It's not really about just catching the fish, but it's the people involved in it, the previous, um, uh, icons that really we celebrate, you know, um, all the way back to Haig Brown, um, you know, uh, the, you know, the, the Harry Lamires, the Bill McMillans, um, just the great steelheaders and the stories and the books and their, and their fly patterns.

Um, I don't think, um, and I could be wrong, I don't think we have that anywhere else in angling where we celebrate these icons and their, and their patterns, and so I've, uh, I've realized at this point, I'm kind of embarrassed to say I think I am a steelheader because it's al- it's almost like it's a badge that someone gets.

You know, "Oh, I'm a steelheader." But it's, it's not.

It's really not.

It's just someone that enjoys the, uh, the world of steelheading.

So, um, yeah, and that's kinda, like, where I'm at.

Uh, I just enjoy the stories, the tradition, the people, um, and of course the fish.

I mean, they're majestic fish.

Um, so yeah, it's kind of the short of it.