Today was a good day-- I took my son and grandson fishing. (Or, did they take me?). This kind of day doesn't always happen. It was time spent on the shore of the small lake which the three of us will remember forever. My grandson Logan caught one (when his line wasn't tangled in a tight mess-- a knot-tying skill we all three possess). This was a day of appreciation. What is it about fishing, in particular?
31st U.S. President Herbert Hoover said it pretty well in 1947--
"Fishing is the chance to wash one's soul with pure air. It brings meekness and inspiration, reduces our egotism, soothes our troubles and shames our wickedness. It is discipline in the equality of men-- for all men are equal before fish."
Izaak Walton (1593-1683) was an English writer and author of The Compleat Angler (1653), which celebrates the art and spirit of fishing.
"You will find angling to be like the virtue of humility, which has a calmness of spirit and a world of other blessings attending upon it."
Remember the 1992 movie A River Runs Through It? A great story-- some sadness, but also full of fishing, which seemed to forgive and make things right. The movie was based upon the semi-autobiographic short novel A River Runs Through It (1976) written by Norman Maclean (1902-1990). Here's one of the best quotes from the film--
"In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing."
I don't pretend to be a great or regular fisherman. I've been away from it for decades, only re-discovering it the last couple of years. Just in time, it seems.
I hope the three of you have MANY, MANY more fishing trips like that in the future!
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