Re: and now for a philosophical fishing question
You have to lose fish or the sport would become very bland and boring.
Losing a really big one every once in a while is what gets the adrenilin pumping when you get a big one on.
Is it going to get off? Is the drag set right? Is He ready for the net? These thoughts racing thru your head are caused by the uncertainty of your success. They wouldn't happen if once hooked big fish absolutly never got off. It is the possibility of failure that makes the tussle so exciting.
So do I regret losing a really big one? You bet your aspidestria I do!
I have been know to throw a hissy fit right then and there. It all adds up to the extreme enjoyment you get when you finally do land the big one.
There is a story whereby a Very Nasty fellow dies and wakes up on a wonderful trout stream. He is very suprised as he had expected to be in a much warmer place. A beautiful maiden hands him the most wonderful bamboo rod of his dreams. It is lined and ready to go. At her urging he trys a cast. Imagine his surprise when his usually sloppy cast flies out with incredable perfection. He is able to cast the entire line out way beyone the backing with amazing ease. Added to the cast is an exciting double haul, something he had never taken the time to learn. This is wonderful. He watches as the fly drops perfectly to a likely looking drift and a huge fish grabs the fly. In life he never caught such a fish and brings it easily to the net. He tries again, success! He stands for hours in the same spot catching monster after monster all exactly the same size and color. The line always finds the same spot. He begins to realize that there is no challenge to this. Even if he trys to toss a wind knot he cannot. The line always sings out to the exact same spot, fly landing perfectly every time to be hit by exactly the same size fish every time. He turns to the Maiden and says this isn't heaven is it?
The maiden smiles and says No its not.
Re: and now for a philosophical fishing question
RedNeck: I can tell you exactly how you're going to look at this 40 years from now.
In the first phase of your fishing career, when you're young such as yourself, you want to catch a lot of fish.
Phase two begins when you stalk the big fish.
Phase three happens at different times to all of us, but it happens. In this phase you realize a fish is a fish whether big or small. The enjoyment comes from being along a stream, lake, etc. You still like catching the big one, but it's not imperative.
I read one time, and I believe it to be true, that we don't fish because of the fish we've previously fooled. We fish for the anticipation of what we may land in the future--a small fish or a big fish or the fish of a lifetime.
For me, anyway, my enjoyment is in the journey.
Sorry to be so philosophical.
I am not at all criticizing you because I've been where you're at and your thinking is natural. I'm glad you like the outdoors.
Enjoy the moment.
Re: and now for a philosophical fishing question
Another good book, a really good book, is "The Philosphical Fisherman" by Harold F. Blaisdell. See if you can find it in your library.
All the romance of trout fishing exists in the mind of the angler and is in no way shared by the fish. ~Harold F. Blaisdell, The Philosophical Fisherman, 1969
Ed
Re: and now for a philosophical fishing question
at 70s now all i care is if i hook a good fish and if i hook one i consider it a good fish-lost a steelie last yr. we figured was somewhere near 20lb.loved it-had a lot of fun and thats what its all about??enjoy every day.
Re: and now for a philosophical fishing question
Redneck,
Hooking and landing, and hooking and loosing are one in the same, for me at least. Success for me comes at the end of the day when I can look back on the memories I've made and re-live each experience. It's not about the numbers anymore, it's solely about each and every experience, the thrill of the rise, the pulse of the fight, the shreak of the reel...
It is always satisfying when I bring a fish to hand, but I don't have to to have had a memorable experience. Afterall, after you've either let it go, or filleted it up and eatent it, what's left but the pictures, memories, and stories of the experience?
One of my favorite memories is of a huge salmon I lost while fishing in the Pierre Marquette River in Michigan. When I hooked it I thought I had a snag. I cussed, let my rod tip down, and then noticed the line moving upstream. When I lifted my rod again the fish leaped out of the water and took off upstream like a bullet. I'd never heard my real scream like that. I knew, when I saw that fish, that I was in trouble because I was only using 8lb test for a tippet. To make a long story short, 30 minutes later, and about 1/4 of a mile downstream we were at a standstill. The big sow was spent, and so was I. I had her in some slower water, but I still couldn't pull hard enough against the current to get close enough to land her for fear of breaking my tippet. So, I asked a guy on shore fishing nearby if he would be so kind as to net the fish for me. He was up in a flash and slowly made his way to the salmon. I had my hand on the reel to hold the fish steady, and as he scooped the net she gave one wiggle of her tail, I couldn't get my hand off of my reel quick enough and she broke the line. I stood there in awe of her as she slowly dissapeared into the deeper water. The guy who tried netting it looked at me and said that she was one of the biggest fish he's ever seen come out of that river, he estimated over 50lbs. You couldn't have wiped the smile off my face with a 2X4, it was, and still is, one of the coolest experiences I've ever had.
Great thread,
Thunderthumbs.
Re: and now for a philosophical fishing question
Is it better to have fished and lost than to have never fished at all ???? ( slight variation of original query). To me, fishing and catching are two totally separate and singly distinguishable occurrences. I enjoy either or both equally. I don't fish much, only about 30 days a year, but when I do fish , I am consumed by and in it. And I will be just THAT starting tomorrow. We're on our way to NW Wyoming ( "Like NO Place On Earth").
Mark
Re: and now for a philosophical fishing question
If you hook and lose a great fish, you'll remember it - in detail - twenty years later (I speak from experience). In time, any bitterness or frustration you felt will fade, and it will be a fond memory. On any given day that you didn't hook a great fish, what will you remember of that particular day, on which nothing special happened? How blue the sky was? I don't think so.
Re: and now for a philosophical fishing question
I kept a log for years and when I glance at some entries once in a great while I can recall much of that day. I always get a grin at some of the non-fly fishing stuff I wrote down.
Roderick L. Haig-Brown said it something like this: 'Sometimes it seems that the least important part of fishing is fishing.'
Cheers,
MontanaMoose
Re: and now for a philosophical fishing question
Every fish I've hooked and lost was a monster (especially the ones I never get to the surface where I can see them).
I'm a few decades older than you, but I'm also a young newbie at this fly fishing thing. Right now I'm still in the "Please just let me catch a fish" mode. Because of this if I hook one and feel that wiggle on the end of the line it's still a total thrill. When I catch them it's icing on the cake.
Still, I'd like to catch a lot more. If I come home from a fishing trip having caught one more often than getting skunked I'd be really happy.
Re: and now for a philosophical fishing question
Quote:
Originally Posted by Panman
DDR: I am 51 years older than you. When I was your age I would have been really PO'd if I had lost a big one. Now at my age it don't matter. I figure that if I hook him I fooled him. The attitude change didn't happen over night and I imagine there are a lot of folks in FAOL who feal about the same as I do.
Tim
hehe, I'm 32 years younger than you and feel exactly the same way...there's always a little disappointment of not landing the big fish but the fact that you fooled it in the first place means that you did a helluva lot right.
Case in point, two weeks ago I was fishing my favorite stretch on the Deschutes. Right before I left, I hit up a spot that I know for a fact holds a VERY large trout (in the 24-26" range). Most of the time when I hit the spot I spook him just by looking over the bank. I have managed to bring him up to inspect my fly on two other occasions. This time, he was in a spot he'd never been in before so it was a little easier to cast to him. (Problem was, that I knew I'd only get one shot--straight downstream cast...no other options). I managed to get the cast down perfect with a perfect drift and watched his nose poke out of the water and inhale my little black ant. I was so keyed into that fish that I set WAAAAYYY too soon and literally pulled the fly right out of his mouth (in a game where you need to get to "two Mississippi", I barely got "one" out)...He took off into the depths of that eddy and I stood just stood there for the next ten minutes. Let me tell ya, that had my heart racing for the entire drive back to Portland...to me, THAT's what it's all about....
~Randy