A century ago, the Hebard Cypress company razed what was then considered a nuisance swamp in southeast Georgia of its pond cypress. Some 400 million feet of timber was removed in total, and all this after a canal was dredged to drain the swamp altogether. The former effort was abandoned after only 11 miles had been dug. The idea, of course, was to turn this inconvenient swath of wetlands real estate into timber farms and croplands.

Thankfully, it didn’t work out that way.

“Come Fairies, take me out of this dull world, for I would ride with you upon the wind and dance upon the mountains like a flame!” — William Butler Yeats

I don’t care where you live, or which fly rods you use, or what species of fish you like to chase. There’s not a fly fisher alive who wants to wake up in the morning and hear these three words.

“Damn, it’s blowing.”

Wind is a serious problem for anglers. The more it howls, the harder it is to cast. The harder it is to cast, the harder it is to fish effectively. That’s just the way it works.