Fishing is Metal, Choose Your Footwear Accordingly.
I recently had the good fortune of chasing epic bones with Field and Stream, Angling Trade and FlyFish Journal editor, Kirk Deeter. You can tell a lot about a guy by spending a day fishing with him, and Kirk is the kind of guy I would choose to fish with anytime - easygoing, but ever vigilant and all business when it’s game time. 
Yet there was one thing about Kirk that left me wondering, and required followup - his choice of footwear for the flats. Far be it for me to shirk my journalistic duties, so I got in touch with Kirk to get to the bottom of this.
Q: As a well-connected industry professional, you could obviously pick up the phone and have any top-of-the-line flats boot on your desk in 24 hours. Yet you choose a pair of Chuck Taylors instead. ‘Splain, please.
KD: I had to wear special orthopedic shoes when I was a little kid…and now I think that most of the flats boots out there look almost exactly like those orthopedic shoes did. So I just won’t wear ‘em. For the record, I don’t wear a helmet when I fish either.
Q: Every flats boot I’ve ever seen seems to come in light colors. You went with black. Is that simply because black is the most fucking metal color of the spectrum? Have you noticed an increase in your hookup ratio?
KD: I like black Chucks because they seem to camouflage my feet in the clouds of silt I kick up as I wade the flats. Granted, the fish are usually freaked out by the clouds either way, so I can’t claim a hookup ratio advantage… but I take comfort in knowing that the fish never know WHOSE feet caused the clouds… follow? And yes, I believe fly fishing and heavy metal music (or punk music) go hand-in-hand, in that you either “feel it and get it” right away, or not. Some people equate fly fishing with bluegrass, which is total bullshit. Fly fishing is metal (or punk). Chucking spoons is disco.
Q: I asked our research department to do a little homework, and they found that you can get 5-6 pairs of Chucks for the price of one pair of famous-maker flats boots. Are the rest of us taking crazy pills here?
KD: Nah… to each his own. But… A) Chucks function better than most wading boots when you cast from the deck of a skiff, B) Chucks dry faster, and weigh less in checked luggage, C) You get the same sole
protection from coral for a fraction of the price, and D) You never know when you’re going to get back to the boat ramp and want to pick right up with a game of H-O-R-S-E or some heated one-on-one for guide tips.
Q: The sun and the heat can do weird things to a person in the tropics. Have you ever imagined while wading around that you are Joey Ramone in your Chucks and that the mangroves are thousands of your adoring fans? Have you ever thought of putting a whammy bar on your fly rod?
KD: I had an adoring fan once, but we got married. On the Ramones fantasy… yes, but it’s actually more of a “Dee Dee” thing. A bonefish reveals a glistening tail, and in my head, I hear the bass player shout out “1-2-3-4!” After that, it’s all bar chords and amplified feedback (which pretty much describes my casting style). If the song isn’t wrapped in about 2 minutes and 7 seconds… I know I fucked it up.
My fly rod is my “whammy bar.” What do you call yours?
For one of the best places on the planet to give your Chucks a workout, hit this.
June 2nd, 2010 at 8:51 am
Dude, not sure what fly fishing is, but it sure as hell ain’t metal. Metal is freaked out, not chill, not in the flow. It’s heart-rate racin’, adrenaline pumpin’ who-knows-what-all. I’m thinking fly fishing is more like Brazilian jazz, or maybe some reggae. To me fly fishing has the same laid-back intensity (until I hook up, of course, then I’m whoopin’ and hollerin’ like a cowboy on a bender), but most of all I don’t think it’s any kind of music at all: unless you count the music of the stream, the whistle of the wind, or the rhythm of the tides…which is all sanctimonious bull$#!t, but still true. (As for Chuck Taylors, I can’t imagine a more uncomfortable piece of footwear out there…unless it’s the standard flats sneaker, or worse, flats booties.)
June 2nd, 2010 at 8:52 am
Wait, I just realized what I just typed probably got me banned from this site for life. Shit.
June 2nd, 2010 at 9:08 am
Wait. There is a worse crime than calling fly fishing “metal” or wearing Chuck T’s. What’s with the “shants” zip off short, pants? If you even consider wearing those things, there’s no way in hell you could call anything one does or thinks, “metal”.
June 2nd, 2010 at 9:45 am
“Some people equate fly fishing with bluegrass, which is total bullshit.”
hrmph.
June 2nd, 2010 at 9:55 am
Really? I have several pair of those pants that zip off and become shorts. They’re the bees knees for wet wading.
And Bobber fishing is Slovenian-style Polka
June 2nd, 2010 at 12:05 pm
Ever shart in your shants?
June 2nd, 2010 at 1:00 pm
As a metal head and shants wearer, I approve. I don’t rock chucks because I look like I got outta the clown car in the middle ring, but I do love some Vans for a little shred sesh at the park after fishing.
June 2nd, 2010 at 5:44 pm
They aren’t shants unless you unzip them.
June 2nd, 2010 at 7:34 pm
And WindKnot… please. If you think “The Girl from Ipanema” trumps “War Pigs,” you need to find some bigger fish…
June 2nd, 2010 at 7:40 pm
I HAVE SHARTED IN SHANTS!
The place has foreverafter been known as “shitty pants run”, I will suggest a rename…”shitty shants run”
June 2nd, 2010 at 10:05 pm
I can’t tell if your a travel agent or have something going on with dudes feet??
June 3rd, 2010 at 7:25 am
I still think it’s funk.
June 3rd, 2010 at 7:39 am
Fly fishing is wood.
June 3rd, 2010 at 7:41 am
Flyfishing is Prokofiev. Wear what you got.
June 3rd, 2010 at 9:16 am
Are those the leathers or canvas? Black Chucks are all I wear outside of fishing, not because of how they look, but because of what they don’t look like. He’s got a point that they’re a minimalist shoe. But I sure as fuck wouldn’t wear them fishing if I didn’t have to. Then again it isn’t often that I am casting “from the deck of a skiff.”
And balloonknot’s Brazilian Jazz comment made my rod limp, but he’s got a point. In my opinion, if you “get metal,” you know a large share of it sucks. Stan Getz would be a goddamn relief from most of it. That said, here’s my nomination for a good fly fishing vid song. Hopefully I’ll hear it one day instead of that dreamy acid jazz shit that’s usually on them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39TaS1aGYJ4
(Particularly fitting for a steelheading segment)
June 3rd, 2010 at 11:03 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39TaS1aGYJ4
WTF? Man I must be old……
June 3rd, 2010 at 11:04 am
You guys are weirdos. While I’m fishing, this video is usually being looped in my mind. Especially past the 1 minute mark.
June 3rd, 2010 at 11:05 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNR74UCidBI&feature=player_embedded
June 3rd, 2010 at 11:50 am
RT Says: You guys are weirdos.
DING!
June 3rd, 2010 at 1:47 pm
RT says: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNR74UCidBI&feature=player_embedded
OMG, it just keeps getting better and better!
June 3rd, 2010 at 2:01 pm
Every time some dickwad lowholes me, I just try my best to channel Bob.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okFznac7Lts
June 3rd, 2010 at 2:27 pm
banknote Says: “Every time some dickwad lowholes me, I just try my best to channel Bob.”
Me too.
June 3rd, 2010 at 8:32 pm
Jesus Hammer. “No, I’m not calling the Jesus.” You just have one for every occasion, eh?
June 3rd, 2010 at 9:17 pm
Well, in all honesty, in all that is in Dogs name, I think of this when I get low-holed, beaten to the hole, or my dog jumps a bird 100 yards out after chasing a deer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYq8EueDYNM
June 4th, 2010 at 7:43 am
I thought fly fishing was punk rock…at least that is how we roll around here.
June 4th, 2010 at 3:07 pm
Dude, I never said Brazilian Jazz standards, just Brazilian Jazz. No, not elevator music or muzak, either. WTF is War Pigs… wait, nevermind, I think I’ll cherish my ignorance on the subject.
As for bigger fish, weeellll. I really don’t think we should go there…
But, you might have something there. I’ll be honest, last time I was pulling on a beast I had Scott H. Birum going through my skull, not something Portuguese. (Probably “Blood Sweat and Murder”, if I recall.)
June 4th, 2010 at 3:37 pm
WTF is War Pigs?!? No. I’m not hearing this.
Bonus points for the Scott Biram, though.
June 4th, 2010 at 5:28 pm
Oh…thaat. Yeah, I’ve heard that… and have to admit: pretty damn metal.
Still, have to say I’ve yet to experience a fish that plays that in my head… next time I’m in Great White waters, though. Sorry bro. Different country, different culture. I’m guessing that like my Hoosier cousins you grew up on that stuff. I grew up on Marley…
(PS, thanks for posting and reminding me of a great song.)
July 27th, 2010 at 6:01 am
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