I was up in the high country slaying the brookies AKA "breakfast trout" when it was necessary to tie on a new tippet. Now I kno

[Sourdough Dave]

I was up in the high country slaying the brookies AKA "breakfast trout" when it was necessary to tie on a new tippet. Now I know that the size of my leader and tippet material have not changed size in the last decade. But, given the difficulty I had with that knot and with tying on those #14 and #16 parachute adams and elk hair caddis, I am now convinced that the planet is experiencing Global Dimming. What do you folks think, do we need to add a concern about Global Dimming to the rest of our climate change worries?

[Ontario Honker Hunter]

Dave, you may be ready for cataract surgery if this seems to be a sudden onset thing. Nothing to be alarmed about. It's a day surgery thing where the doctor replaces the lens in your eye, sometimes right in his office. Many times people who have it done are able to throw away their glasses (the doctor simply adds the prescription to the new lens for your eye). I'm having a helluva time right now with cataract in my good right eye but they won't replace that lens until I'm nearly blind. I have already had multiple retina detachments in the left eye and for some reason cataract surgery places higher risk of similar detachments in good eye. Nuts! Yes, it is getting dimmer! But hopefully it's correctable for you.

[Ontario Honker Hunter]

Also, if you don't already have bi-focals, it might be time for that change. And you can buy some flip down magnifiers especially for fly fisherman that clip onto the bill of your cap. I have seen a lot of guys using them so they must work well.

[FirstBubba]

Now Dave! Breathe! Relax! Calm down.
There, there.
It's called SAS. (Short Arm Syndrome) No relation to military short arms inspection. It has to do with the either the laundry soap or your wife's laundry methods.
It first becomes noticeable in the mid section of shirts. Then the seat of your pants. First thing you know, your shirt sleeves have shrunk to the point you can't extend your arms far enough to see small objects....or too far to see small objects.
Then your mind suddenly realizes that you need (shudder!) glasses! OMG!
Try some dime store cheaters. They still work for me!

[Sourdough Dave]

Nah, nothing sudden about it, just getting closer to my allotted "three score and ten". I haven't been able to cut an oat straw waving in the breeze with a .22 for many years like I did when a kid. It just seems unfair that once we retire and have the time to really devote to the pursuits we love we find that we have gotten too old to do them as well as we once did. Either that, or there really is Global Dimming. As much chance of that as there is Man Made Global Cooling.

[Dangle]

There is no doubt American dimming has increased 10 fold.
Lots of Americans today have slipped through the public education cracks.

[country road]

I think I'm a victim of Global Blurring, in spite of glasses.

[buckhunter]

Can't fish without my reading glasses anymore. In the order of importance they rank right up there with toilet paper and car keys.

[santa]

I have been wearing Tri-Focals for a number of years and I have learned that the "Tri" part should really be spelled "Try" when it comes to things like seeing to tie knots.

[JPMNTMAN]

It may be your eyes but here is another thing to look at. Not sure if the hooks you use are the same as bait style hooks but here is something I noticed. I found an old pack of size 10 I use for trout here in northern AZ. I pulled them out and was comparing them to the new size 10. My old ones are quite a bit bigger then then new ones even though they are the same company. I now use size 8 hooks since they are the same size as my old size 10. But we all getting older it would just help to make eyes on hooks a little bigger.

[GERG]

I too suffer from this affliction. Glasses and no more clear mono seems to help. Also sarting to suffer from CRS,CFS too. Guess you will be on the list for this years OLD [email protected]$%& contest! LOL

[jay]

What high country are you referring too? J

[Dangle]

There are all kinds of tools to make that task easy. The wire loops that push through the eye of the hook, and then pull the tippet back through the eye. Light attatchments to your hat. and drink decaf instead of caffinated helps with the shakes. Got to get smarter when you get older. And we are talking fly fishing are we knot?

[cb bob]

Sounds like global dimming to me. There's also some new environmental issue that caused the hair to stop growing on my head, and start growing out of my ears! I've found that my reading glasses, and a clip light on my ball cap helps with the #14's, and #16's. Any smaller than that, and I get my son to tie it on for me.

[santa]

Just checked with Al Gore and yep, it is possibly from global warming. Global dimming could be a side effect of global warming but the jury is still out on global baldness. So I guess I will have to stick with the old saying that God only created a few perfect heads, the rest he put hair on.