Do You Tie Flies?

So this isn't a river report but an answer to an often asked question. Do you tie flies? For some reason if you fly fish people think you must tie flies as well. Many people do love the process of tying flies but

it's not a given just because you fly fish and guide.
Here is an answer to the question from a highly experienced fly fishing professional.

Do race car drivers repair their own engines, do wing shooters make their own shotgun, do golfers make their own golf clubs? Some maybe but not most.
I don't tie my own flies, that's not that I don't have respect for those who do.  Their lonely dedication at their fly tying station helps my secluded existence on the rivers of the backwoods. They are as valuable to me as the fly rod at a stream or the gunsmith when I am hunting at the forest edge. I am a restless person who needs to be in motion. I take that energy into the field with anticipation of my tacks productivity. Failure of my equipment sends me back to the maker with new ideas and designs. People who enjoy the renaissance masters (Rembrandt, Raphael) never held a paint brush, yet appreciate their talents. I feel the same of those who tie the fly.
I envision and understand those western fur trappers of the early 1800s who returned to St Louis requesting a larger gun, the .50 caliber by Hawkins, for that western Grizzly that almost took their life. The right flies are paramount. Like any person who ventures into the unknown, first to cross the Mississippi or the Rockies, you need the right stuff. Oh those explorers, I wish I had their chance, yet I have that same spirit.  I don't face that type of adversity but I do enjoy the sound of a secluded river, the smell of the forest, that warm summer breeze in my face, and the right flies.
Tying flies is punishment for me just like a student who spent many a day standing in the corner with a dunce hat on my, their head. The indoors was not for me. No apology for wanting to be in the woods, on a stream, or finding a new trail, some people are meant to take the point. I proudly accept that challenge. In the woods I fear nothing, not dark, not bears, not cougars, nothing. I can't say it is a gift, it might be stupidity. So those of you who think tying flies are apart of the sport of fly fishing, I say Quarterbacks don't make the football.
No I don't tie flies.

I think that old Irish saying should be;

                       May the road rise up to meet you,
                       May the wind be always at your back,
                       May the rains fall softly on your river,
                       And until we meet again,
                       May you hold in the palm of your hand,
                       A full fly-box

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