The Art of Fly Fishing 

 

 

The coolness of an October morning is felt on his rosy cheeks and with every breath, a bit of smoke is puffed. The crunch of freshly fallen leaves with their array of colors line the wooded path to the small creek. As William Morris walks down the wooded path the sounds of woodland friends begin to emerge in the distance. Squirrels make their little chattery laughter as he continues down the path and soon a flock of crows are heard crowing as they fly throughout the timberline and they stop and rest in the tall loblolly pines above. 

 

“A lifetime of fly fishing is filled with countless stories of big fish, great locations, ever-growing knowledge of equipment and opportunity to pass all this information to others,” said Morris. 

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As the reflection of fog rises across the still water, he begins looking through his tackle boxes in search of the perfect trophy catching fly. He looks through the assortment of fishing flies with colors of black, white, red and yellow to name a few. The patterns of polka dots and even a fish net look made from spray painting through a window screen. There’s flies with tails made from materials found in nature such as turkey feathers from the previous spring’s scouting and even squirrel tails harvested from the squirrels shot the previous spring. He finds his tried and true friend the “Pachuta Popping Puppy Dog” this fly is black with white polka dots.  

 

He begins the back and forth motion of casting his line, with every cast and flick of the wrist he scopes out the best place to land the line in hopes of catching a fish. Casting the line in such a graceful and enteritic process where patience is key. He makes multiple loops to get the line to the right length to land it in the perfect spot. Once the fly lands he gives the line a tug and slowly glides the popping bug across the still water.  

 

Morris recalls the first time he embarked on making fishing flies, he says it mostly for the economic reasons of being able to mass-produce your own flies cheaper than the fly you could buy at the local bait and tackle shop. He also enjoys the creative aspect and personal pride he gets from creating something as simple as a popping bug and catching an eight-pound bass on the fishing line. When he first started making flies as a child he would break branches off of young pines trees and wittle it to the shape he desired for the fly and attach it to a hook, then he would paint and varnish the body and add yarn to the hook for the tail.  

 

Since then Morris has come up with many patterns and thrifty uses of materials found both in nature and household items to make flies these days. The water striders he makes are made out of foam from dollar store flip flops. He uses google eyes found in the craft aisle on his foam frogs. Of things found in nature, Morris goes on walks in the pine and hard wood-filled woods across Mississippi looking for turkey and hawk feathers. Morris also looks at the insects in nature for inspiration on his designs and tries to replicate them. 

 

 

Morris tells the story of how he has filled a lifetime with fly fishing. He was fortunate as a child to have several mentors, who passed on their knowledge and the fun they enjoyed fly fishing in the Deep South. Jack Gunn a local mercantile store owner and John Sibley a retired gentleman are his earliest mentors into the art of fly fishing. They were both topwater “popping bug” fly fisherman. Their target fish were largemouth bass and bluegill panfish. They both fished with split bamboo rods, silk fly line and simple reels.  

 

“I was amazed at the accuracy of fly casting that both these men possessed. They could cast a cork popping bug 20 yards and could place that bug in a coffee cup size area,” said Morris. 

 

He was given his first fly rod by his parents on his eighth birthday. It was an eight-foot fiberglass rod, a Martin automatic reel and a floating fly line. He wishes he knew how many fish he caught with that rod and reel combo over the years. He started out with relative inexpensive rod and reel and that part of fly fishing continues until today. Having custom fly rods and reels have never been part of his fishing gear. His first rod came from Western Auto and his current set-up comes from Walmart. Though Morris has fished in the streams and waters all across the U.S. and the world he is drawn to the waters of his birthplace where he has spent a lifetime perfecting the art of fly fishing.  

 

“While in the Marine Corps, I had the opportunity to fly fish on the East and West coast of the U.S., in Japan and Hawaii, but my favorite fishing is still here at home in Mississippi,” said Morris.

 

His favorite story is not one day, or one event he’s enjoyed the whole journey. His best fishing trip is his next one. The thing he enjoys the most is fishing with his daughters. He says they have surpassed his creativity in crafting flies and have grown so much in their fishing techniques.  

 

 

“I enjoy fly fishing as much as I did as an eight-year-old child. The only difference is the fact that along with the fly I cast on the water, I also cast out a lifetime of fly fishing memories,” said Morris. 

 

As the sun rays beam and cause the water to glisten, Morris pops the popping bug across the water and then the fly is engulfed and taken under. On the end of the line is a 4 lb. bass, not a trophy but a fish nonetheless. Morris takes the hook out of the fish’s lip and then releases it back into the creek. He continues to cast his line into the water until the day comes to a close as the sun fades amongst the timberline, Morris packs up his tackle box and winds up his line into his reel. He starts back down the wooded path and he remarks on how it’s been a yet another day filled with memories, the memories that drive him to continue in the art of fly fishing.