The Evolution of an Angler: Lee Wilson
What quickly gets revealed when you talk with Lee Wilson is his evolution in fly fishing. Over the past twelve years, he has grown from having no experience in the sport, to having a growing interest, to now having a full-blown passion for all-things fly fishing.
An Introduction
Lee’s introduction to fly fishing happened in 2012 when a Marine buddy invited Lee and his brother to fly fish in Elevenmile Canyon. Lee didn’t have the most productive day that first time out, but he then hired a guide from Angler’s Covey. On that trip, Lee returned to the Canyon, netted some fish, and “I was hooked from there.”
A Learning Journey
After that point, several threads begin to weave together in Lee’s life.
Lee took advantage of all the offerings from the Colorado Springs chapter of Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing. Lee served for five years in the Marines, from 2003-2008, and through Project Healing Waters, he discovered “the healing aspects and the positive impact” that fly fishing had on his life.
In Project Healing Waters, the mentor introduces the veteran to different elements of the sport. “They’d let me know the bugs we’re fishing this time of the year. I learned the different casting strokes, learned how the mentors approach the water. The more trips I went on, the more interested I got.”
As Lee’s involvement grew with Project Healing Waters, he also developed his relationship with Angler’s Covey. He took a few more guided trips with the Covey. Then, he got even more involved. “I took probably all the classes that the Covey offers. Discover Fly Fishing. The 101 and 201 classes. Tying classes. Winter fly fishing. Entomology.”
Lee knows that other anglers have similar relationships with fly shops. What becomes clear, though, is how Lee sees the involvement with Angler’s Covey and the people there, the guides and the retail staff, as a key part of his evolution as a fly fisher. He thinks of the shop as his “home base.”
Lee’s desire to learn fed on itself. “The more I learned, the more I progressed. The more I progressed, the more I wanted to learn.” When he is not fly fishing, he immerses himself in reading about the sport, tying flies, and researching entomology. “Man, I day dream at work about fly fishing.”
“I want to be a more complete angler, confident in all types of water and conditions, and really skilled in all fly fishing tactics.”
Giving Back
In addition to his involvement with Project Healing Waters, Lee began to take friends from work out to the river. As an ER nurse at Evans Community Hospital at Fort Carson, Lee knew that fly fishing could offer his co-workers a great mental break from the demands and stresses of the Emergency Room. His motivation to become a guide rose from this involvement with Project Healing Waters and taking people out.
“There is a moment every time I am on the water that I thank God for engineering fly fishing into my life,” Lee says. And his motivation to guide reveals that desire. “I want my clients to have a positive experience. And that can mean different things to different people.” Lee says that “fly fishing, like most things that are sacred and precious, has boundaries, regulations, and ethics. We need to be good stewards and I want people to learn that as well as hone their skills and become more self-sufficient.”
“Our family came from all over the country to learn how to fly fish. Jeff, Joel, and Lee did an excellent job introducing us to world of fly fishing. We hope to return soon so we can continue learning the sport.”
~~ Review from Orvis.com.
Goals
Right now, Lee has become a student of wet flies. As he developed more as a fly tier, he began to experiment with tying wet flies and considering their productivity on our local waters. “It’s actually one of the oldest approaches to fly fishing. No weights. No indicators. It’s more common on the east coast, but I want to try some things on our western rivers.”
He’s interested in some of the different techniques for fishing with wet flies. As fish get more active during a hatch, they may not be feeding completely on the surface, so “drifting a wet fly through a run and letting it swing, you may get some takes.”
As Lee looks at his learning trajectory over the next few years, he wants to reach a different balance between his nursing career and his guiding career. Right now, as his wife explores her own career options and as because his children have not all reached school age, he is immersed in family life and providing for them. One of his goals is to get his wife and children out fly fishing more in 2022.
And he wants to give back to the group that helped launch his evolution and become a mentor for Project Healing Waters.
In the future? “I hope, God willing, that one day I can make my full-time job in the outdoor industry.”