About 15 LOSTU members and family showed up amid pouring rain and some (very loud) rumbles of thunder. We stocked about 1,000 pounds of trout, some of them in the 4-5 pound class and we finished in record time – about an hour. Photos to follow.
After we finished several of us adjourned to the nearby Sierra Nevada brewery for some brews and lunch. One conversation dealt with how catching a lot of fish isn’t really important – it’s the total outdoor experience that draws a lot of us to the rivers and streams. And the discussion reminded me of a short essay by a former Michigan Supreme Court Judge – John Voelker who wrote under the pen name of Robert Traver. Those of a certain age will remember him as the author of the movie “Anatomy of a Murder” starring Jimmy Stewart and was the screen debut of George C. Scott. It was entitled “Testament of A Fisherman”
Testament of a Fisherman
I fish because I love to; because I love the environs where trout are found, which are invariably beautiful, and hate the environs where crowds of people are found, which are invariably ugly; because of all the television commercials, cocktail parties, and assorted social posturing I thus escape; because, in a world where most men seem to spend their lives doing things they hate, my fishing is at once an endless source of delight and an act of small rebellion; because trout do not lie or cheat and cannot be bought or bribed or impressed by power, but respond only to quietude and humility and endless patience; because I suspect that men are going along this way for the last time, and I for one don’t want to waste the trip; because mercifully there are no telephones on trout waters; because only in the woods can I find solitude without loneliness; because bourbon out of an old tin cup always tastes better out there; because maybe one day I will catch a mermaid; and, finally, not because I regard fishing as being so terribly important but because I suspect that so many of the other concerns of men are equally unimportant – and not nearly so much fun.
-John Voelker (Robert Traver )
Still true except the part about no telephones on trout waters. He also wrote a few books on trout fishing, my favorite is Trout Madness.
