|
I got the book Beloved Water written by
Paul Ford from a book store going out of business. It
was an interesting read about his fly fishing. In part
of the book he talks about taking a day off from fishing
for bonefish and just hiking down the beach. He was asked
why he was not fishing. His reply was that he had caught
enough to take a day off.
This got me to thinking about how many fish it takes
to make me happy. How many is enough? The more I
thought about it the more convinced I became that I
cannot come up with a number to be used as a target.
Is a hundred fish day better than a ten fish or a one
fish day? I seem to have fun on any of those days.
I thought back over several of the days that I have
been able to go fishing this year. Not all of them
were successful for connecting with fish. I will
submit that they were successful fishing days. I got
to be out and I got a line in the water. A fish would
have been a bonus.
I have tired to spend about 15 minutes every noon hour
that I am out at the lake casting left handed. I know
the only way I will get better is to practice and this
is a time that I can do it. I am slowly getting better
and more comfortable doing this. I can do about 30 feet
of line with some degree of accuracy, i.e., not hooking
myself. I am finding more and more times that it is
advantageous to make the cast with my left hand. This
is true even when I am out in the canoe.
I remember being on a pond and making a left-handed cast
to get under the branches of a tree. I could not get the
fly the same place by casting right handed. I got the fly
to drop about three feet back in an opening in the branches.
A very nice crappie was laying back there waiting for that
fly to land. I sure was glad that I was able to put it
there for her.
Earlier this year we had a pair of eagles out at the lake.
It was more fun to watch them than to try to pay attention
to a line in the water. I even got to see one of them take
a fish out of the water. I think it may have been a small
carp. No fish that day, but it was a good day.
I was fishing the main lake the other day. It had rained
and there were not many places that were not too wet to
try to get to over the lunch hour. But I can get out on
the jetty and see what might happen. I know there is a
brush pile about 35 feet out to the northeast from the
end of the jetty. The idea is to stand at the right
corner of the jetty and cast to the left side of the road
sign were the road turns across the pond. That is the line
of sight to get over the brush pile. There is always a
chance that there will be a few fish around this brush
pile. I don't always get them to bite, but I know the
odds are better there.
I had caught a few fish when I had another fisherman
approach me. He wanted to know if I could show him how
to use a fly rod. I always have at least two rods with
me, so I gave him a little instruction on how to cast
the line and had him practice casting, without a fly
on the line. He picked it up fairly quickly and could
get some line out. We put a fly on and had him cast out
in the same general area that I had been casting. On
his third cast he got a bluegill. I think he also got
hooked on using a fly rod as he told me that it was a
barrel of fun. Not many fish but a good day.
Several times this year I got to watch as deer and turkeys
came down to the pond to drink water. I always try to stay
still and see how long it will take before they figure out
that I am there. This is also the time of year when the
flocks of geese will start flying over and I have to watch
them.
To me all of those things are part of the fishing experience,
but don't come up in a number of fish. But, these experiences
are all part of what makes my time on the water complete.
I don't think that I enjoy the days that I catch more fish
any more than the days that I don't catch as many. I just
take it as the challenge that I have a whole lot more to
learn about those finny creatures.
It does not matter how many fish I have caught or not caught,
I always want to catch one more.
Hope you can get out on the water. ~
Rick
|
