George, next time you see Jerry ask him if he knows who Don Green is. Then ask him Don Green's daughters name. I used to date her. I can tell you how many freckles she has on her right cheek. I'll tell you her name after you find out from Jerry so you will know if I'm BS'ing or not. She can wrap a rod faster than anyone I have ever seen.
I've been to lunch with Leon Chandler several times, Lefty Kreh several times, Hal Jannsen several times, fished with Lee Wulff, Chico Fernandez, dinner with and fished with Dave Whitlock. Maggie Merriman lived in my guestroom for 3 months back in the 80's before you were born. Learned to tie flies from Grant King and Andy Puyans. Learned to catch steelhead from Bill Schaadt. Spent 16 hours in a van with Ernie Schweibert, Grant King and Bob Nauhiem and Heavy Baggett driving to the Chetco and back, fished for a week with them and 20 other fishing legends. Irwin Thompson gave me my first flytying lesson in 1976. Anyone can drop names, most of the people on this board have forgotten more about flyfishing than you will ever know.
I watched you compete against the men at the San Rafael FF show, the only difference is those overweight, 50 year old guys you competed against have lost their testosterone (I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL THAT BITES YOUR ASS 20 YEARS FROM NOW
), coordination gone from lack of sleep, had 5 minutes of practice on Tuesday on the lawn after work before mowing the lawn, his vision is deteriorating, and on top of that were thinking about their mortgage, their boss, how they were going to make payroll next week, property taxes, his daughter screamed "I HATE YOU" because he won't let her dye her hair FUSCHIA, what he was going to tell his wife tonight to why he was late, gas prices, college tuition for his 4 kids, how he was going to sneak in a new fly line into the house without any grief, daycare, car insurance, mother-in-law's birthday, the truck needs tires, his hair is turning grey,... while you got chauffeured by mom, dad or who ever, had spent probably every waking minute practicing ( you weren't doing your English homework, that's for sure), and your reflexes are close to being at their maximum at that age. You should whip their butts!!!
I have some business advice for you.
1. Stay in School. Life is not flyfishing. I carried 12-18 units every semester and worked swing or graveyard shift in managment for Albertsons the first 3 years of college. And I still went to Hat Creek, Montana or Idaho fishing every other week. The last year was harder since I had to work during the day and go to school in the evenings.
2. Don't get into this industry to make money. You'll never get rich here. If you look at most of the "successful" people in the flyfishing industry, in reality they are "teachers", passing on their passion and love of the sport to others. Teachers rarely get rich, but get paid back tenfold in other ways.
3. You NEED a mentor in the industry. (someone like a Bill Kiene, Andy Burke, Jamie Lyle). Someone like these men, who have good business sense and their priorities are in line.
4. You need to watch the movie "Click" and read the book "Rich dad, poor Dad".
5. RESPECT your damn elders , punk!
PS> we're just messin' with your brain filled with MUSH!
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