The Rainbow Leech

I’ve been doing some thinking and creating lately - for therapeutic reasons.  My latest fly I call the “Rainbow Leech”.  I made it because it represents my life in a way.  The leech pattern is one of my favorite patterns to fish with because it catches fish almost every time and it’s a lot of fun.  I tie it because it’s fairly simple and easy to tie.  In this case, the colors all represent something to me. 

The rainbow material is called crystal flash.  I tied this in to represent my wife.  Crystal flash is a material that is the most rigid of all the materials I select.  It is the strongest of these materials because it has a twist to it, and that twist gives it its strength.  I liken this to my wife.  She has been though a lot in her life, and it has given her strength.  It’s multicolored and beautiful, just like she is.  Depending on the angle you look at, you will see different aspects of its colors and characteristics.  All of my wife is represented here, and I love every aspect she has which make her a unique and beautiful individual.

The pearly looking material is called pearl flashabou.  Flashabou represents my children.  On first look, it’s just ordinary material, but when light shines you can see how it reflects and catches your attention.  When picking this particular material in a fly, it really reflects light a long way in the water and that’s what gets the fish to come check it out.  My children are unique and beautiful, and the light they reflect back at me brings me so much joy and happiness that I cannot fully express in words.  You must stop and examine this material to enjoy the special beauty it brings to this fly.  Just like my children, if I do not stop and examine what they bring in my life, I will miss out on so much joy and richness.

The red is just regular old tinsel.  I see in this one the pain that is in my life.  I chose to use this only once in the fly, and I put it right at the head.  Right now, the red definitely does not represent everything that goes into my life and makes me who I am.  However, it is up front and always on my mind.  It is mixed in with everything that makes up the rest of my life.  It will never go away and is always visible, even if it’s hard to pick out.

Finally, the last part you cannot see unless you turn over the fly.  It is a very thin white thread.  The white thread, to me, is love.  It that binds the whole fly together.  If you try to remove the thread, the whole thing will fall apart.  It would no longer be the Rainbow Leech.  It would just be a pile of flashy material.  The thread runs through every piece of the tying process; it would be impossible to separate one piece from the other.  I love my family.  And while love can be fragile, when combined it wraps around every aspect of my life and it pulls the whole thing together into something marvelous and wonderful.  It is this simple thread that keeps me going through all the pain - and all the joy.