A good friend of mine ran into some trouble the other day while fishing one of our mountain streams. One minute he was standing shin deep in gin clear water, and the next, he was struggling to get to shore as a flash flood roared out of the high country. Thankfully he made it to safety, but his experience got me thinking.
In our part of the country, very few things in nature can kill you. Sure we have bears, copperheads, rattlers, and the occasional black widow or brown recluse, but in the big picture encounters with those dangers are rare.
We have no deadly fish. No flesh eating reptiles or North American kin of the piranha, but we do have one thing that can be as dangerous as a loaded gun to the head…the river itself.
Knowing just how life threatening swift moving water can be, why do we willingly go stand mid stream? Quite simply…that is where the fish are.
My Father sides with caution in all things. For him throwing caution to the wind is not even in his vocabulary, and from him, I have learned. Each time I step into the water, it is as if I can hear his voice in my head telling me to be careful. I am a grown man, and being careful is a given, but I still hear him, and to a great extent I heed his love filled warnings.
One of the Fly Fishing greats, A.K. Best, who has been a sidekick to John Gierach on more than one misadventure, has a great rule of thumb that I have adhered to my own philosophy. To paraphrase, he said that he sets a boundary on just how deep he will fish, and I have done the same. I will not wade through water that is above my waist. I also will not traverse swift water just to reach an inviting spot on the other side. It just isn’t worth it. I say that I agree with him, but… present me with the opportunity to cast at a 26” Brown who is actively feeding on the other side…
I guess even the Enlightened have their weaknesses……
In our part of the country, very few things in nature can kill you. Sure we have bears, copperheads, rattlers, and the occasional black widow or brown recluse, but in the big picture encounters with those dangers are rare.
We have no deadly fish. No flesh eating reptiles or North American kin of the piranha, but we do have one thing that can be as dangerous as a loaded gun to the head…the river itself.
Knowing just how life threatening swift moving water can be, why do we willingly go stand mid stream? Quite simply…that is where the fish are.
My Father sides with caution in all things. For him throwing caution to the wind is not even in his vocabulary, and from him, I have learned. Each time I step into the water, it is as if I can hear his voice in my head telling me to be careful. I am a grown man, and being careful is a given, but I still hear him, and to a great extent I heed his love filled warnings.
One of the Fly Fishing greats, A.K. Best, who has been a sidekick to John Gierach on more than one misadventure, has a great rule of thumb that I have adhered to my own philosophy. To paraphrase, he said that he sets a boundary on just how deep he will fish, and I have done the same. I will not wade through water that is above my waist. I also will not traverse swift water just to reach an inviting spot on the other side. It just isn’t worth it. I say that I agree with him, but… present me with the opportunity to cast at a 26” Brown who is actively feeding on the other side…
I guess even the Enlightened have their weaknesses……
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