I own some of James Prosek's original work. It warms my heart during the long winter months of anticipating opening day.
These illustrations are stunning...are these fish really this beautiful? How can we keep them, how can we kill them?
This essay is wonderful, but....the world has changed since we were hunters/gatherers.
With the projectory that humankind is on (consider just the problems with water), there's no way these lovely creatures will be in our future.
If we want a natural world that can continue to support these and other wildlife (and ultimately ourselves), we have to HUGELY change the way we do transportation, agriculture, reproduction, care for our yards - yes, care for our yards - and more. And we have to start years ago.
This essay is wonderful, but....the world has changed since we were hunters/gatherers.
With the projectory that humankind is on (consider just the problems with water), there's no way these lovely creatures will be in our future.
If we want a natural world that can continue to support these and other wildlife (and ultimately ourselves), we have to HUGELY change the way we do transportation, agriculture, reproduction, care for our yards - yes, care for our yards - and more. And we have to start years ago.
2
Exquisite...
Thank you.
Thank you.
2
It saddens me that so many do not realuze the world has changed. The human population and consumer society is brining numerous species to the brink of extinction. We have to evolve past our belief that animals are ours to do with as we please. To play with, pet, experiment on and kill.
They are sentient beings in their own right, not put on earth for our amusement. If our "connection to nature" must involve hunting and fishing for "sport", not survival then we are lacking empathy and a truly deep understanding of the web of life.
They are sentient beings in their own right, not put on earth for our amusement. If our "connection to nature" must involve hunting and fishing for "sport", not survival then we are lacking empathy and a truly deep understanding of the web of life.
1
Your showing your ignorance. Hunters and Fishermen are some of the "best"
on keeping healthy and plentiful stocks of fish and animal. When was the last time you donated money to help preserve a certain stream? A fisherman does it every time he gets a fishing license. And Cindy do your comment the best it deserves, use a spell checker.
on keeping healthy and plentiful stocks of fish and animal. When was the last time you donated money to help preserve a certain stream? A fisherman does it every time he gets a fishing license. And Cindy do your comment the best it deserves, use a spell checker.
4
NY Times ran a piece last week suggesting that fishing was bad even with catch and release. It went on at length about hatchery fish pushing out natives. While I can see his point, he obviously can't see mine: fishing - particularly fly fishing - is an activity of the soul.
The solitude of standing in a rushing mountain stream attempting to deftly drop a dry fly so it drifts to that rock where a lunker lives … the sound of water and the stillness of mind …
I'm not much given to religious or metaphysical pronouncements, but I am reminded of the opening lines of the Tao De Ching … "Those who talk, don't know. Those who know, don't talk."
The solitude of standing in a rushing mountain stream attempting to deftly drop a dry fly so it drifts to that rock where a lunker lives … the sound of water and the stillness of mind …
I'm not much given to religious or metaphysical pronouncements, but I am reminded of the opening lines of the Tao De Ching … "Those who talk, don't know. Those who know, don't talk."
13
The sad fact is that in many bodies of water there are NO native species of trout and there hasn't been for many decades.
For instance in the northeast the only two species of indigenous trout are the Lake Trout and the Brook Trout. The first needs deep, cool lakes and the second, while it can thrive in small shallow streams, needs highly oxygenated, cool water with temperatures above 70 degrees F lethal. Both of these types of habitats have become rare starting from the Industrial Revolution.
It's no coincidence that most of the trout in the Northeast are now the Brown Trout, firdt brought here in the 19th century by European immigrants, and the Rainbow Trout, a West Coast import, both of which are far more tolerant of less than pristine waters.
In many waters the alternative to not stocking non indiginous trout is no trout at all.
For instance in the northeast the only two species of indigenous trout are the Lake Trout and the Brook Trout. The first needs deep, cool lakes and the second, while it can thrive in small shallow streams, needs highly oxygenated, cool water with temperatures above 70 degrees F lethal. Both of these types of habitats have become rare starting from the Industrial Revolution.
It's no coincidence that most of the trout in the Northeast are now the Brown Trout, firdt brought here in the 19th century by European immigrants, and the Rainbow Trout, a West Coast import, both of which are far more tolerant of less than pristine waters.
In many waters the alternative to not stocking non indiginous trout is no trout at all.
It is not unusual for a purist to offer no practical solutions to the "problems" they see. That was true for the "anti-hatchery" fish purist you are referring to.
As far as I could determine, that fellow was all for outlawing most freshwater sport fishing, except for catch and release of wild fish. Thus making a enormous amount of wilderness habitat economically accessible for real estate development, including golf courses, warehouses, and fast food outlets.
As far as I could determine, that fellow was all for outlawing most freshwater sport fishing, except for catch and release of wild fish. Thus making a enormous amount of wilderness habitat economically accessible for real estate development, including golf courses, warehouses, and fast food outlets.
Fishing is indeed fun, spiritual fun included.
But didn't I just read an article in the NY Times about how most trout caught are actually stocked at the beginning of each season, and at great ecological cost at various levels?
The article was by a professor at Connecticut College as I recall, and he'd quit fishing, in spite of his love for it.
But didn't I just read an article in the NY Times about how most trout caught are actually stocked at the beginning of each season, and at great ecological cost at various levels?
The article was by a professor at Connecticut College as I recall, and he'd quit fishing, in spite of his love for it.
I hope that fellow still purchases a fishing license in order to help keep the State from contemplating the sale of fish habitat to developers.
Obviously more than one point of view comprises the whole picture. I don't think an individual quitting fishing with no other action really helps solve the problems pointed out in the other article. This article "illustrates" - pardon the pun - that appreciating trout fishing doesn't have much to do with the grandiose and destructive - read market driven - approach that currently prevails accross the U.S.
Excellent description of the sense of "being connected to the earth" and "immortaility" as you step into the stream, feel the water swirling around your legs, then begin the hunt, and totally meld into the river, mountains and sky. I've often felt that is the closest connection with God I will ever feel....the catch is greatm but secondary to the sensory...I've tried to describe it to others and can't. even some fly fisherman. beautifully put. as are your drawings.
3
Flyfishing is definitely a first world endeavor. If you want to connect to your hunter-gatherer past, consider trapping fish with a weir and spearing them, or weaving a gillnet out of fibers from local treebark. Hunter-gatherer past is all about efficiency, spending as few calories as possible to harvest as many as can be stored. Flyfishing is about maximizing leisure.
2
i like to free dive and hunt using a pole spear, which requires a lot of stealth to get close enough (6' or so), and if successful, i honor the fish by communicating with it much like indeginous people used to do. I like to tell the fish that it will become part of me: thus a higher life form Ha! Still i felt some accepted it but all did make me stronger. There is no honor in having others do the killing for us.
2
Hmmm. If killing a fish with a pole spear requires you to imagine you are doing it a favor, why don't you try the more realistic approach of counting coup on the fish without actually killing them.
1
It's the moving water that is the allure. Anyway, that's my explanation for the appeal. I use a fly rod and streamer (they are not "flies") fishing the saltwater creeks near my low country home, and while it is more satisfying (not to mention challenging) than using a spinning rod and live bait, what I miss is the moving water (the tide not really the same thing as flowing water in a mountain stream). And size doesn't really matter: 12 inches or 20 inches, it's the instant that the trout takes the fly and you feel that pull on the rod that I get that feeling of connection to nature. Indeed, there's nothing quite like the feeling the instant when a beautiful rainbow seizes a perfectly presented dry fly on a no. 22 hook, tied on no. 8 tippet, and with 4 wt. slow action rod in a spring creek in Montana.
2
Maybe the author will appreciate this: I was fishing the (flooded) spring creeks between Livingston and Emigrant with a guide (Red) who didn't appreciate me or anybody not from Montana. He first put me on a very narrow, slow moving "side" creek (the flooding), where it was impossible to cast over the heads of the very large, easily spooked trout. So he put me upstream and told me to let the line and very small fly (on a no. 22) drift slowly toward the trout and then gently lift the rod tip if the trout took the fly. My eyes, even then, couldn't see a no. 22 sitting on the table much less 70 feet away, but I let it drift and then guessed (I had watched the rising trout), lifting the rod tip just as the the monster rainbow took the fly. "Beginners luck", he said in a disappointing tone. Next he took me to a bend in the creek, where you could see rising trout on the opposite side, casting to which was impossible (for me) because of the brush behind us. "How do I get the fly to the other side of the (fast moving water in the) creek?", I asked. "Roll cast (you idiot)". Roll cast that far", I responded. "Like this". A perfect roll cast leaving a perfectly presented fly, which he lifted out of the water just as the trout was about to take it. "Why did you do that?" I asked. "That's your fish", he responded. It may be my fish, but I never caught it. Having put me in my place, my guide's disposition improved noticeably, and we proceeded to enjoy several wonderful days of fishing.
2
Catch and release, I hope...
1
I live in Connecticut and the winter this year seemed longer, colder and with way too much snow - ie: brutal. So bad I almost fished opening day - a sin in my book because seeing other fishermen/persons is an intrusion that has probably disrupted the settled order of the stream- even with recently stocked fish. When I fish with friends sometimes we don't see each other for hours. The camera on my cellphone helps me fight the impulse to bring a couple home to my flea market found smoker with spring growth apple wood tossed on the coals for the smoke. No seasonings, no brining, just fresh trout and apple smoke and a few fresh ramps picked along the bank for a garnish. If I see any of the overly enthused early season types in my favorite spots I'll casually wish him a good day while mentioning the bear seen in that very spot just an hour ago.
3
I hate to write this, but did you read the article recently in the NY Times by the Conn College professor who quit fishing due to the huge ecological mess caused by stocking fish? It's not what I wanted to hear...but I believe that he's correct.
I grew up flyfishing. I tied flies as a young child and teenager and loved it. I have travelled the world, hiked many miles, and fished. But it is not a communication with a fish. Don't flatter yourself. If it is a communication with a fish, it is one way. You have no ability to hear what the fish thinks; you obviously don't even grasp the pain it feels. You arrogantly assume some primal drive motivates you.
Trout fishermen--at least the type I know and knew--are motivated not by some primal connection to an ancestral past but by many current and modern things, not that they are all bad. They like online shopping at Orvis. They like daydreaming, because we all fish in our heads more than in a stream. It has nothing to do with prey.
Our desire to fish is deeply historically shaped: today it is different than when I was a child. There is no romance left it in it, just as the romance in hiking is gone. It is now about performance, shopping, gear, metabolic rates and fitness calculations, mile tallies and elevation gained, fish caught and bragging rights, etc.
Please.
I no longer fish. Why? Because it's unkind to the fish. It took my kid about 30 seconds to realize that.
She also realized that it's unkind to the father who takes the kid fishing. Especially when she catches a size 16 Adams in his left earlobe and still casts away, tearing that lobe to shreds, the father screaming like the fish cannot...
Trout fishermen--at least the type I know and knew--are motivated not by some primal connection to an ancestral past but by many current and modern things, not that they are all bad. They like online shopping at Orvis. They like daydreaming, because we all fish in our heads more than in a stream. It has nothing to do with prey.
Our desire to fish is deeply historically shaped: today it is different than when I was a child. There is no romance left it in it, just as the romance in hiking is gone. It is now about performance, shopping, gear, metabolic rates and fitness calculations, mile tallies and elevation gained, fish caught and bragging rights, etc.
Please.
I no longer fish. Why? Because it's unkind to the fish. It took my kid about 30 seconds to realize that.
She also realized that it's unkind to the father who takes the kid fishing. Especially when she catches a size 16 Adams in his left earlobe and still casts away, tearing that lobe to shreds, the father screaming like the fish cannot...
7
Beautiful drawings. Thanks for sharing.
1
Excuse my cynicism: If trout fishing is what it takes to get rich guys to protect the environment, so be it. I just hope they are putting some real money into The Nature Conservancy and American Rivers vs just LLBeans and Orvis.
6
Wow. You can outwit a fish. You must be a genius.
JimBob,
I don't think he is trying to challenge them to a chess match, just to a quick survival game of deception.
But to your point, how smart do you have to be to trick a native trout into thinking it's slurping down a very specific species of insect it has chosen for breakfast AND not let it spit the thing out before you can set the hook AND keep the line tight without it breaking while trying to land it? Smarter than the fish obviously. Head on up to Hat Creek or any other fly-fishing-only stretches without a guide and tell me if you are really smarter than the trout.
I don't think he is trying to challenge them to a chess match, just to a quick survival game of deception.
But to your point, how smart do you have to be to trick a native trout into thinking it's slurping down a very specific species of insect it has chosen for breakfast AND not let it spit the thing out before you can set the hook AND keep the line tight without it breaking while trying to land it? Smarter than the fish obviously. Head on up to Hat Creek or any other fly-fishing-only stretches without a guide and tell me if you are really smarter than the trout.
1
It doesn't take genius to catch a fish. To do so with a reasonable degree of consistency though does require some knowledge of where they may be and the skill to get your lure there and to present it in a way that may induce them to take it.
But as in all activities the race is not necessarily to the swift nor favor to men of skill. One of the pleasures of fishing is the random, goofy things that can happen on the water.
One time I was casting with exceptional skill, getting my offering underneath some low hanging willow tree branches. I wasn't catching anything but man I was casting well.
The spell was broken when I hung up my lure in the branches. I gave it a tug and my offering came flying back over my head and plunked in the water behind me. A beautiful brown trout took it.
There's nothing like succeeding despite idiocy.
But as in all activities the race is not necessarily to the swift nor favor to men of skill. One of the pleasures of fishing is the random, goofy things that can happen on the water.
One time I was casting with exceptional skill, getting my offering underneath some low hanging willow tree branches. I wasn't catching anything but man I was casting well.
The spell was broken when I hung up my lure in the branches. I gave it a tug and my offering came flying back over my head and plunked in the water behind me. A beautiful brown trout took it.
There's nothing like succeeding despite idiocy.
4
You should try it and then maybe you wouldn't be so smug.
2
It is fascinating how people justify their activities. Communicating with the fish? The fly as translator? Give me a break. I have no issue with hunters and fishermen who consume what they catch. Just don't cloak the activity in poetry. Catch and release, on the other hand, is unnecessary torture. That said, the images are great. I just hope the author eats the fish after he enhances his powers of observation.
4
I'm a lifelong fishermen from flounder and blue fish on Long Beach Is to salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River but fishing with a rod and reel has ZERO to do with our ancestors hunting. For food you use nets. Rod and reel is a recreational hobby of more modern times. More part of civilized man getting back to nature vs. some romanticized subsistence hunter looking to stay alive.
6
Most beautifully written and illustrated! Almost poetic, and (for me) nostalgic. In my younger years, I lived in Alaska, some of the time in territorial years. Grayling, and trout were abundant. We ate every fish we caught. Later, we caught salmon, halibut, red snapper and harvested crab, clams and abalone. What a treasure! But we never wasted. We canned, froze, pickled and smoked salmon. It was the appreciation of what nature offered, the satisfaction in providing sustenance, and the joy of being part of the circle.
8
My grandson recently told me we are quadupedal, only lately bipedal, because our Ur-great-grandparent had four dorsal fins which helped a later Ur-grandparent off-spring crawl up on land, etc., etc. Kind of makes you want to catch and gently release, doesn't it.
2
my familiarity with trout comes primarily from the 195-0's " Friday night blue plate special" at a diner not too far from where I lived as a youngster. Now, I don't eat fish for many reasons, most notably due to all the chemicals that exist in their bodies, and out here on the left side of the nation, out of consideration for the sea creatures that also need fish to survive--I don't want to eat THEIR dinner.
I do like your art work, and some years ago while browsing the NYPL digital collection I came upon this jewel of fish art. I highly recommend a look see.
http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/natural-history-of-britis...
I do like your art work, and some years ago while browsing the NYPL digital collection I came upon this jewel of fish art. I highly recommend a look see.
http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/natural-history-of-britis...
I love to hunt and, like Mr Prosek, to fish. And there is nothing in fresh water more fun to catch and eat than trout. Just beautiful creatures, they are a gift of the Creator. I disagree with catch-and-release though, which I feel needlessly inflicts pain on these creatures for no reason except "sport."
But I will tolerate any catch-and-release fisher who first takes a little sensitivity training. First, the prospective fisher finds a favorite spot, perhaps the lving room or kitchen; then the instructor places a huge hook in his/her mouth. The hook is connected to a Jeep winch. As soon as the hook is set, the Jeep driver engages the winch and revs the engine, dragging the prospect out of his/her house.
Now, wasn't that fun?
But I will tolerate any catch-and-release fisher who first takes a little sensitivity training. First, the prospective fisher finds a favorite spot, perhaps the lving room or kitchen; then the instructor places a huge hook in his/her mouth. The hook is connected to a Jeep winch. As soon as the hook is set, the Jeep driver engages the winch and revs the engine, dragging the prospect out of his/her house.
Now, wasn't that fun?
5
So cutting the trout's head off, pulling out their entrails and frying them in hot oil is OK though? Treating a fish that way is your idea of fun?
7
Really? You think killing fish inflicts less harm? People who practice catch-and-release use small, barbless hooks, handle trout as little as possible and make sure the fish is able to swim away safely. Most competent trout fishing guides require their clients to practice catch-and-release. Your self-righteousness is exceeded only by your ignorance.
6
Really, Heartland?
You seem to know all about proper catch and release techniques but don't know how to kill a trout instantly and, arguably, painlessly?
And as a flyfisherman who has seen way too many trout in catch-and-release water where barbless hooks are required having messed up mouths and fins, assuming that catch-and-release is typically done correctly is pretty naive.
You seem to know all about proper catch and release techniques but don't know how to kill a trout instantly and, arguably, painlessly?
And as a flyfisherman who has seen way too many trout in catch-and-release water where barbless hooks are required having messed up mouths and fins, assuming that catch-and-release is typically done correctly is pretty naive.
3
Yes, I've been caught caught up in it to the point where I've needed my staff to get me up the bank in a spring stream, long johns not withstanding. I loved the the trout lily in the illustration. Please release the fish. And no more stocking.
1
Fly fishing is the most elegant way to not catch fish. The appeal of trout is that they seem to require beautiful pristine streams. Many fisherman and women practice catch and release with barbless hooks. A trout is too precious to be only caught once. It is a wonderful hobby.
9
Hobby? If that's all it is, you don't get it.
1
To paraphrase John Gierarch, "I don't know what flyfishing has to teach us but it is something we need to know."
Revel in the mystery.
Revel in the mystery.
15