The Fly-Fisher in All of Us
Rebecca French Smith
Jim Rogers teaches fly-fishing at Bennett Spring State Park.
Once upon a time, I learned to fly-fish. I was vastly intimidated when I started, with visions of the man on the A River Runs Through It poster running through my head. That was an art form, which doesn’t come close to describing my fishing technique.
But, I met a man named Jim Rogers. He is the consessionaire at Bennett Spring State Park. He has a passion for fly-fishing and has been fly-fishing for longer that I’ve been alive. He’s come a long was from his first attempts as a young boy at Roaring River, near Cassville, Missouri—the thwap, thwap of a regular rod as he cast his bait back and forth. Today, he is a member of an elite, but small, group of international master fly-fishers. He has a quick wit and an easy-to-approach manner and can often be found on the back concrete patio or lawn at the Bennett Spring park store coaching former students or just about anyone who wants a few pointers. He perpetuates the sport by sharing his passion for it.
My passion needed a little more developing. The motion required to fly-fish was strange to me—10 o’clock, 2 o’clock, 10 o’clock, 2 o’clock. I have never moved my arm in that way, exactly.
"Acceleration along a straight line to an abrupt stop," he said.
Sounds simple, right? But after two days, it became more natural. It is amazingly peaceful. It sets the mind right and refocuses thought in a way that I have found few things to do. There was a fly-fisher in me after all.
Don’t miss opening day of trout season at Bennett Spring State Park, March 1.
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