Today the Elk River Valley crosses an annual threshold for the cutthroat trout living out a winter in the benign safety of the Elk River. June 15 marks the opening day of fishing in the valley. The beginning of months and months of wanton, unflagging and resolute pursuit of those cutthroat trout by the far larger and more (?) intelligent homo fishermans.

In a piece on the state of modern fly fishing Thomas McGuane states today it is possible to walk stark naked with an American Express card held between your teeth into a fly fishing shop in Manhattan and emerge an hour later looking like the most experienced fly fisherman in the world.

The ultimate makeover.

It doesn’t have to be Manhattan. It could be Fernie. The big difference? In Fernie you can splash a guided drift boat into the Elk River 10 minutes after the big ding on your Amex card. In another four hours, you will be a bonafide fly fisherman with an iPhone stuffed with pics of big cuts that will be the envy around any office water cooler (or on Facebook) back in the Big Smoke or the Big Apple on Monday morning.

And just so we’re clear, I will be one of those flailing the water with the subtly of a line of Indians trying to flush a Bengal Tiger. I will spend hours floating a pinch of feathers tied on a hook over fish with a brain the size of two bb’s. Hours. I’ll be trying to fool those two hemispheres of submerged brain into thinking, “Dinner.”

Game on.