Willamette and the Fly

This is an interesting blog post for me. I almost always add a title after I have done my writing, but in this instance Willamette’s relationship with the fly was on my mind. “The Fly” to me primarily represents the type of offense our football team runs here. Right now, I am very frustrated with it. Now this may seem like a football mumbo-jumbo-Josh-rant, but my observation of how much I dislike the “buzz motions” and the “tac belly 96” play-action passes has led me to rethink how that my current outlook on “The Fly” in football relates with how I view the fly in nature.

Commonly associated with being purely a household pest, the fly as I know it holds more meaning. I have no knowledge on species of different flies and what their ecological niche means to our environment and well-being, but by simply taking a fly-fishing trip to Jackson, Wyoming this past summer I have acquired a little bit of appreciation for these so-often-swatted creatures. A good fly-fisherman knows where fish will be in the river but more importantly, they know what the fish are hungry for. It can be a good investment of time for a fisherman to just observe the body of water that they are planning on fishing and find out what type of flies and little critters are hovering in the air. Again, I am no expert on this subject, but from the little knowledge I have on the importance of the fly that the fisherman is using, it seems that the fisherman is a breed of naturalist that particularly appeals to me, a practical naturalist.

My definition of the practical naturalist is centered on the principle that observing nature helps accomplish a tangible goal such as catching a fish, building a good shelter, or making a good piece of furniture. The classic example of a practical naturist is Sam Gribley, survivor man extraordinaire and protagonist of the book My Side of the Mountain. The plot summary is that Sam runs away from home and eventually takes shelter in a hollowed out tree in the forests of upstate New York. He learns new things daily about his environment and eventually creates a very comfortable existence for himself. I am truly inspired by the thought of just making it on my own in the wild, even if it was just a month or so. As for now though, I will glean information from this class and maybe just try to become a better fly-fisherman.