02.01.14 Fly fishing is good for my soul.....

                                                  

     It was great to wake up to air temps in the 30's today, and even get into the 40's when I got down to the beach. I decided early that I needed to go fishing, period. I have made my daily rounds to the beach looking and taking it in while I do my daily meditation about life, but today I needed to fish, period.

     I continue to learn and realize that only a portion of my need and want to go fishing is to catch fish. In fact, sometimes catching a fish interferes with the reason why I am fishing in the first place.

    To me, fishing is an escape. An escape from the trials and tribulations of daily living. An escape from the stresses and stressors that others and I put on myself. Basically, I think, in a weird way its also an escape from myself.

How can I escape myself? Without thinking of fishing, the gear, the flies, the tides, and the fish I find myself out on the beach or the rocks suspended in the rhythm of the cast, rhythm of the retrieve, rhythm of the tides and the waves. And on a day like today when I think I had the entire Jersey Shore to myself, there was no one to focus on or talk to to distract me from my fly fishing coma. 

       People ask me why I fish so much and if I ever get tired of it. I have to say I never get tired of thinking, wondering, and dreaming.....and I do that best while I am fishing. If I were "right in the head" and really was out there to catch a fish only, then yes, I may grow tired of it.
       There is a point before I go fishing, when I am in one of my pensive moods, where I think I look for the best spot to fish. Not the best spot to catch a fish, but the best spot to get into a thoughtful, emotional, and physical rhythm. If you are to close to the beach then you have to worry about casting and picking up quickly. If you go out to far on the rocks then you are worried about getting a fly or the line stuck in the rocks. But if you pick the right rock, on the right tide, you can get into that rhythm and "fish" and think for hours without an interruption.

     I was glad that todays weather was cooperative, and the outgoing tide tame, and I was able to fish and think and breathe and take it all in.

     One thing I was thinking about was how our "pride" had grown in the last day. My sister and her partner welcomed in a healthy baby girl last night up in the North Country, aka the Adirondacks. I am proud to be an uncle once again, with two nephews and now a niece.