The Beauty of Fishing

When I first began trout fishing in the stream, my built in alarm clock would have me awake by 7:00 am.  Those times were very relaxing and spiritual for me.  I spent many mornings thanking God for the beauty that surrounded me.  I still do that when I am fishing, but it seemed to mean more to me of the early mornings, when the world is just starting to wake up.

My favorite morning spot to fish is near a long narrow run of rapids just above an area where the creek widens and becomes a very slow moving stream.  The contrast of the two currents of water attracts fish as well as me to the spot.  The creek in front of the rapids is a wide, slow moving section as well, and the water that flows over the first row of rocks leading into the rapids, tends to look like glass.

One morning, I was fishing here and the air was cooler than the water, which caused a steady stream of steam to rise off of the water.  I had never in person seen anything like this.  I was already in awe over the beauty of it all, when downstream, in the area that I was looking; a huge fish broke water.  This fish jumped clear out of the water.  To me, it was in slow motion and picture perfect.  At the time, I had no idea what it was, but I now know that it was a giant carp.  Some think carp are nasty fish, but you might change your mind, had you seen this.  I have fished in this spot many times since that, and have yet to see that happen again.  But I have seen a Kingfisher, in flight, grab a fish from the water; as well as watched a Great Blue Heron stalk fish painfully slow.  I have shared the creek with ducks, beavers and snakes.  They have all come so close that I could touch them, but they kept their distance.  The ducks, by far, are the most skittish.

Some mornings the trout are jumping everywhere, even almost at my feet.  My youngest daughter and I watched a brown trout jump completely out of the water, dolphin style.  You could almost count it’s spots. And I have had carp feed at my feet while I was fly fishing for trout.  Numerous times I have been fishing from the bank, only to find myself in the middle of a chaotic mayfly hatch.

My most memorable sight happened at night when I was wading in the creek.  I looked to the sky just in time to see a shooting star that left a most brilliant trail.

Fishing has a way of taking me back to the innocence of being a child.  I tend to notice the things in nature that we as grown-ups tend to overlook in our hurried world.