My Grandfather died before I was born, and more times than I can count, I have been related to him in conversations with loved ones who see in me a part of him. A man who from all accounts was creative, an angler, a musician, and though I never knew him, I feel that in some ways I understand him.

To be on or in the water seemed to be a place of refuge for him. He built his own boat; the mysterious “Our Miss Mills” was its name. No one ever really knew the reason for calling it that, much like no one who fly fishes can really understand the complete satisfaction of the total experience. I am sure that there were days when he just needed to get away. He needed the peace and comfort of the water and the unknown and varied excitements of what may be lurking unseen beneath the glare of the waters surface. I understand, and share with him that feeling.

Perhaps our attraction to the water was pure genetics or to delve even deeper, perhaps that portion of our soul transferred from generations that preceded him. We are descended from the subjects of the British Crown, and perhaps one of those men who were the foundation of our family stood on some misty Scottish shoreline, gazed out at the rolling waves, and was entranced to a place that impacted all generations that would follow.

As I cast my line in some cold stream, and I see the fly line dance over my head to land softly in the current, I know and understand that peace. I read somewhere that “Some people go to Church and think about fishing while others go fishing and think about God”. I can honestly say that I do both. I try as hard as any mortal man could, to follow the precepts of my Savior, but it is also not uncommon for me to sing a hymn or pray aloud to God as I stand in the water of some gorge or tail water. For me, I have my time of collective worship, but I also have a sanctuary not built by human hands in which I am met by God, and I am also met by generations I will never know until the day that I leave this place and am elevated to the higher plains of Heaven.

Nevertheless, for now I have the river….and that is enough.