FINDING THE CHALLENGE


Several years ago I wrote a weekly outdoor column for a local newspaper. It was a wide ranging column covering all facets of outdoor recreation from bird watching to fly fishing. One spring I wrote a column entitled "Finding The Challenge" and the subject was fishing for trout while they were spawning. It was, and still is in some circles, a controversial practice. Part of the controversy involves wading on redds and thus damaging the developing eggs hidden in the gravel, and the other part of the controversy involves disturbing or catching and handling the spawning fish. I approached the subject on an entirely different angle by asking the question, "Where's the challenge in intentionally bouncing an egg fly or stripping a streamer through a place where trout are actively spawning?" After exploring all the aspects of using that technique I left the reader to draw their own conclusion.