the right kind of fishing...

On the recent drift trip with Phil Cusey, we came across one of Phil's acquaintances on the river, a pediatric surgeon Dr. He seemed like a man in his sixties with a bright white beard and wearing a wide brimmed hat. The Dr. came around and anchored to chat and watch us fish for a while. He told us he caught a small steel head up river and was now hunting for trout. There was a lot of stonefly hatching all around us and there was a couple of rises at the edge of the tree shade.

Soon the Dr. drifted further down the river and we came across him again at a lower, slower section. It was the kind of water you could expect a trout to rise and the Dr. was there, anchored, legs kicked up on the boat, and just watching the water. We fished nearby and saw a few steelheads in the water and a couple of time, they jumped and created some noise that get angler's heart pumping. Still the Dr. just sat there undisturbed ... watching the river, watching the stoneflies, and patiently waiting for the trout to rise. There was a few trout rising but he continue to watched them ... waiting for them to build a rhythm. Phil mentioned that sometimes he felt like that's the best kind of fishing - knowing what you want & just waiting for it to happen. Although I know in my heart that I don't have the discipline or patience to do the same, I knew I agreed.

Perhaps because I'm still relatively new to fly fishing, a sight of a good rise makes me pause in that crouching, "I'm gonna catch that trout" kind of way. And soon I find myself swiftly tying on whatever fly I think the trout will take, then casting ... most times in a hurried fashion. But on this day, I saw an example of the type of fisherman I hope to become one day, knowing how to wait for that magic moment to happen.

Of all the things I learned out on the water that day, this is the most important one.