The Optimist: A Case for the Fly Fishing Life

The fishing is broader than the days, they add up and become part of a life.

I’ve resorted to studying lunar cycles, hurricane histories, and weather almanacs. It never works. Now I give in to chance, point at the calendar, and throw a dart with the knowledge that I’m courting meteorological disaster.

the minutes and hours of quiet and stealth are contrasted with fierce action that brings purpose and proportion to all the downtime.

The rainbow trout is a wonderful fish. It expresses itself and often jumps in the air when hooked. It’s not self-aware, like the brown trout. Where the brown trout is wary and resists most efforts to get caught, the rainbow plays along. Attractive, beloved, maybe not technically the most intelligent, though that’s never held against them. It’s the

Rear (Left): A YETI cooler I received as a gift from a friend who works there, who has one of the world’s better jobs. As far as I can tell he goes on photo shoots with the serious anglers and chefs the company partners with (he fishes and eats very well). It’s possible he feels guilty about his good luck and gave me this cooler out of pity, which

foolish idealists don’t look for the easiest way, we vote with our hearts. We have a sense of what’s sporting, which makes it sound like we might end up in a duel at dawn on the town green. But it’s not that. Rather, it’s trying to use a set of skills which, when mastered (or at least improved upon), heighten an experience.

There are many things I love about the morning before fishing begins. The day is still perfect, faultless, like a relationship before the first fight.

Sometimes you have to accept not knowing.

The guide takes out a cutting board and starts slicing a garlicky summer sausage and opens a jar of pickled boar (they run in the hills nearby). He cuts up some sharp cheese with a knife that seems slightly too large. He lays it all out and it’s impressive. This is the picada, the traditional Argentinian board. It makes a lovely lunch. Then he star