Progression of a fly fisherman

Progression of a fly fishermanA friend of mine just reminded me of a proverb I had come up with about fishing. My first thought was that I had probably stolen it from some place or some one. Nothing today is really new, just altered or tweaked to match our culture of the time. Then I remembered how I got the idea. It came from a book I read “When the Heart Waits, by Sue Monk Kidd.

Here is the quote:

My grandfather was a lawyer, a judge, and a farmer. He was
frequently busy and conquesting, but I remember also that he sometimes entered into golden moments of wu wei. He and I used to go fishing at one of the little ponds on his farm. He would sit and hold his cane pole over the water, becoming as still as the stumps that jutted up from the water. I usually tired of fishing fairly soon and went on to other things, like dandelions. One days having given up on the fishing, I was playing in his old black truck when I noticed that his fishing bait was still on the seat. I remember being surprised that my grandfather had been out fishing an hour or more without bait.I grabbed the bait basket and raced over to him. “Grandaddy, how can you fish without bait?”He tilted back his hat and smiled as if he had been caught in some delicious secret. “Well, sometimes it’s not the fish I’m after,” he said “it’s the fishing.'

In other words, it wasn’t the conquest that mattered, but being in the moment, fully in the experience, watching and waiting as life unfolded. He was letting life happen.

Being active in fly fishing for over 30 years now, I have seen folks come into the sport and of coarse have tracked my own progression and I have seen a pattern that seems to form for most. Here is how it goes…

When a first time fly fisher gets into the sport it is all about catching the first fish. Success is complete wrapped around the notion that hooking a fish is the goal, the key to successful fishing.

Immediately after that first success if become all about catching the next fish…and then the next, and the next…

Then it transitions from catch one fish into catching lots of fish and numbers become very important. How many fish caught seems to measure success.

Then they begin to scoff at small fish and now it is about the BIG fish and again numbers in pounds or inches becomes very important. Just one more cast and maybe… just maybe…

After sometime of chasing big fishing it shifts to the exotic, either an exotic locations or an exotic type of fish. It becomes an endless quest for something more…

Then comes a subtle transition and exotic numbers seem to fade, but the need to know that you still catch at least one fish lingers There is some reassurance needed that the angler can still produce.

The final stage comes when it has very little to do with the fish and become more about the fishing and being in the moment. Becoming acutely aware of what is really important…

I have been in these moments, standing or sitting along a stream… watching… waiting… letting the sights, sounds, smells of the moment fill my soul. Realizing how loved I am to have all that surrounds me, created form me. I find myself in that place of slight insecurity that question if I can actually still produce. For some reason I still feel it is about me. I seem to be straddling that line between feeling the need for conquest and realizing the Conquistador, God in his fullness. There is a real peace that comes when you surrender the idea that life hangs by a thread and you are responsible, that you need to perform...now… I want to get to the place where having control of my life means very little in the context of God almighty.

Be still and know that I am God… and take your fly rod...