So you want to get started in fly fishing? Taking the first step is the hardest part. By the second step someone will take your hand. The fly fishing fraternity has been an easy place to make friends. After all, you are bonding with folks that share your ideals, your values and love of the outdoors. Or are you?

When I walked in to my first Trout Unlimited meeting I wanted to learn to fly fish. I was already an avid hunter and could taste those trout already. I offered to do a Chapter job in return for instruction, and I was immediately made newsletter editor. (What else? Aren't they always looking for someone to do that job?) But what I got in return was a bit of a surprise.

I was assigned to a "mountain man type." A man of few words, intense, honest and focused. He looked me square in the eye and said. "If I'm going to give my time to teach you to fish, you must make me two promises. First, promise that you will never kill a wild fish that you catch using what I teach you. And secondly, promise me you will not give up practicing this technique for one year. After a few weeks, don't say it doesn't work or I can't do this. Just keep practicing." I looked him right in the eye and said, "OK, I promise. "

The idea of not keeping the fish shocked me so that I considered asking for another teacher, but what he said next really got my attention. "You know, if you master this nymph fishing you could clean out my streams, and I sure don't want that." ME? Clean out a stream! One fish a day seemed like a victory.

Little did I know that that conversation would be the turning point in my life. There's a connection that happens when you release your first fish. You see it as a wild and beautiful thing, not just dinner. Suddenly the water you release it into has a promise to keep, just like yours. That river or stream has to take care of that fish so you or a friend can catch it again. But what keeps the water safe. You do! The promise was taking on new meaning. To release a fish, to value the water, to preserve the watershed, to steward the land, to love the forest and see each meadow as a host to your stream, your fish, this was the beginning of my life as a fly fisher.

Along the way I have found many men and women who share their fly fishing knowledge, pass on a favorite fly, or help you figure out how to catch that really tough brown trout. What in fly fishing brings on this bonding? I believe it's more than catching fish. What we share is the love of our rivers, and the desire to see those lovely wild fish protected. Without even knowing it, you are making the promise that I did nearly 20 years ago. Release the fish, practice our skills, preserve and protect the streams so we can continue to keep the promise.