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Well, of course you're not one, none of us are
fish-hogs. With that out of the way, let's dig a
little deeper into what/who may, in reality, be one.
I will admit that I was one, I think I was born that
way, perhaps we all were. I do not think I am one now
though. But, if I followed what I read and see these
days I feel that I should have to regress to that
sophis/juvie stage of puberty to be excepted in
today's circles of the fishery.
There is a normal maturing progression in life,
like potty training and such which includes among
other things, ones attitude toward fish and fishing.
The attitudes regarding recreation and sport, and
differences and or similarities if any. We all know
the drill; first fish, more fish, bigger fish, more
big fish, biggest fish, most fish, most biggest fish,
giant big fish and lots of them ad nauseam, la dee
la dee da.
The impetus these days seems to require that if
I should desire to feel adequate I need to be a
world traveler and catch and release strange, if
not exotic fishes and do it by the bushel at least.
I am surprised that today's fly rods do not yet
have a little hook hanging from the handle which
will weigh my fish, inches for length measurement
emblazoned on the butt section and a miniature
counter/clicker imbedded in the handle where I
can easily facilitate the recording of hits, runs,
errors, landed, released, "think I had a hit" and
"Boy, did I get hammered!"
Fortunate are those who have had occasion to simply
sit stream-side on a warm summer evening and watch
as a spinner-fall of mayflies gently drifted by and
the trout busied themselves with their daily dinner.
To sit calmly and feel that it would be a wrong thing
to disturb any part of the sequence. The stories in
books and magazines in past years often told more of
the aesthetics of the camp, the camp-fire, the venture,
the hardships and triumphs of the trip. Today it is
more about how many thousand miles we flew and how
many hours we sat cramped up in a jumbo-jet; and how
many fish we released. Our sport has become a recreation
of quantity; not a pursuit of quality.
I find it interesting that the magazines and T.V. seem
to push this quantity idea while the Internet seems
more content to try to tell the truth. Perhaps we are
tired of the hoopla about how many fish so-and-so
caught or released. Maybe we just want to be ourselves
and be accepted for that. It is not always the fellow
who comes in from the stream with the most fish, caught
or released, who is the better for it. We all look for
slightly differing things from the sport of fly-fishing,
and when we find them, we have succeeded. It is in that
searching and finding which spurs us ever on to find
even more to quench our insatiable appetite. It is these
ideals which will further ensure the continued existence
of our passion. Not numbers released.
We are often asked why we try to help so many learn
how to fly fish if there are not enough fish now.
The idea is that after you have caught your 'limit,'
then what? We hope you can learn to turn a few back
and in so doing gain appreciation of the whole of
flyfishing. It's not just about catching fish. After
that it's between you and the 'Fish-Hogs.' ~ James Castwell
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