Fishing And Life

Something funny happens when fishermen get together. I suppose when people with the same interests get together it is the same. Tales of extraordinary things get shared and constantly improved upon. We become super-heroes and adventurous souls.

One of my really good fishing friends is successful in his profession and has a great family. He always helps out with his local church. Is very active in community activities and most of the time is someone that strikes you as being what use to be called, with great respect, a fundamentally good person.

That is until the subject of fishing comes up.

All of a sudden a monster is born and rushes out as if willing to consume anything and anyone that stands in its way. Or to put it another way, he hogs the conversation and always has a better story, a bigger trout, a riskier escape from sudden death as he manages, in the nick of time and with great risk to himself (and a family of orphaned squirrels), to jump aside and avoid a huge boulder that came tumbling down a hill.

This last one is his most recent story and it did make for very good telling and even listening - that is until the third time round when it was no longer a boulder but half a cliff that became an avalanche of mud, trees and even cattle. It is a bit strange that such an earth shattering catastrophe didn't make the news, but you never know. Strangely enough it reminds me of a scene in one of the Indiana Jones movies - but without the treasure or beautiful girl at the end.

Others fit in exactly with that old fisherman's cliché, known as "the one that got away". When you come to think of it these always make for better stories as the trout grows on and on an on until it resembles some primeval being. A being that takes on evil and wicked ways which are only surpassed by its fiery intelligence seen through an unblinking eye. Nobody else sees them but judging from the fight they are always gigantic. Still I suppose stranger things have happened.

All fishermen have anecdotes covering all sorts of subjects including fishing. Perhaps my best fishing moments occur during the noon break, after a few hours of working the river. This is when my fishing buddy and I sit down, eat our lunch and start chatting. Over the years we have covered many, many subjects and yet we both remember one particular time when we sat on a small bridge, overlooking our dangling legs as the river passed below us. I can´t remember what we talked about but can still feel the perfect sense of well-being.

Finally there is that group of friends who talk about fishing but end up fishing much more than they talk. When they do talk it is about their tackle boxes, their flies or the fascinating life of the trout. And somehow they always end up quietly with a better and bigger catch. They are the ones who catch and release.

They don´t make a fuss and are always willing to lend a hand or if asked, to give advice. They never force their opinions. They never complain. It is never the rod, the weather or the fly at fault.

They are always thankful and polite. They teach without seeming to. They are passionately content when fishing, and equally importantly, in life.

They are our heroes in that we want to be like them when we grow up - and maybe some of us will someday.

Every few months, when the daily grind and overall stress begins to get me down I receive an inspiring call. It always catches me by surprise as I tend to get lost in so many other things and then the magic words "time to reboot".

These are words that change my whole attitude. Life is not only good, it is brilliant. and the funny thing is that my daily activities just flow as i empty my desk for a four day fishing trip. There have been times when even my family suggests a fishing trip and then it is I who makes the call.

So far we have always managed to respond to this call of nature, and such is our love of the outdoors, the river, the lake or the estuary that even if we come back empty handed our spirits are free.

All fisherman will recognize those times when you are so completely in the zone where the layers of worry or staleness just vanish into thin air and all that matters is the moment. When everything just falls into place and even those problems you haven´t solved are easily fixed.

A fishing trip that stays in your memory will have obviously the fish, the battle and the flowing water. But it will also have the company, the setting up, the exhaustion and the stories at the end of the day. Stories of past glories and of reliving the day.

And we come back better for the trip and having revisited nature.