Twenty years ago, I decided to pick up fly fishing. After all, I lived in Colorado and trout streams abound all through the Rocky Mountains. At first, I treated it like a sport. You know—sport fishing. That’s a term most fisherman outside of Colorado call serious fishing. Sport fishing involves a spin casting or bait casting style in which one throws out a massive plastic lure or sliver of meat to catch as many fish as possible. In sport fishing success is based in weight and number of fish caught. You keep your fish and eat them later.
I’m a slow learner. For the first few years I measured my success in fly fishing like I was in a sport fishing bass tournament. I evaluated a good day based on fish caught and size. It was just another hobby to perfect.
An Art Form
But somewhere along the way, my perspective changed. Thoreau once said, “Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it’s not fish they’re after.” I found something in fly fishing that changed my heart. The complexity of the craft and intricacies involved caused me to realize it wasn’t a sport, but an art.
Norman Maclean once wrote, “All good things—trout as well as eternal salvation—come by grace and grace comes by art and art doesn’t come easily.”
An art form is defined as “the conscious use of skill and creative imagination in the production of aesthetic objects.” From tying a fly to the act of casting, presentation of the fly, and choice of fly is an art form. Fly fishing is not a sport but an art. You also don’t eat your art.
Over the years, I have come to love the art of fishing with a fly. It has taught me so much about myself, the outdoors, and a few lessons about life. Let me share just a few.
Lesson #1: River
One of the first things a fly fisherman must do is study the river. It’s not the fly selection or the weather, as much as knowing the river. Every river is unique. A river has curves, eddies, pools, ripples, rocks, and waterfalls. A fly fisherman must study the eddies. An eddy is the opposite to the main laminar flow, usually the pool behind a large rock or obstruction. It’s in the eddy line that trout feed. It’s that edge between the fast-flowing waters and the calm eddy that a rainbow or brown trout will patiently wait for an insect or larva to come by. With little or no effort on their part they can calmly pick off the nymph of their choice. The first thing an artful fly fisherman must know is the river.
Life is like a winding river. It’s in studying your life and the life you’re living, with all its complexities and interruptions, that we grow the most. My life just like yours has had many rock obstructions, fast pace, slow ripples, and eddies. There are places in the river of life that are easy to navigate and enjoyable. But there are other times when it’s just plain hard and frustrating. Life is a winding turbulent river. Knowing your river is key to effectively navigating life’s complexities with success.
Life Lesson #2: Beauty
Fly fisherman fish because they love the beauty of the stream, the forest, the wildflowers, and the wildlife. It’s the majesty of God’s creation, with you in the middle of it, that draws upon the eternal longings of one’s heart. So many times, I have been brought to joyful tears seeing and hearing the stream as a bald eagle floats in the air stream above. Once while struggling through deep pain in my heart, a little fawn with mother walked past me never noticing my presence. I was painted up against a large boulder completely still. They moved through the stream, and I was transfixed by the beauty of nature and God’s creative genius.
So often we blindly move through life, never aware of the beauty all around us. The beauty of another human being, the beauty of a sunrise, or the beauty of a sun kissed sky. God’s masterpieces are all around us. Beauty is God’s handwriting upon the world.
Life Lesson #3: Processes
In fly fishing, one can be perplexed with how much work is involved in trying to catch that illusive trout. From trying to find the right eddy, to making the perfect cast, to the presentation of the fly, I have spent many a day on a stream with little or no success in catching fish.
But one learns that it’s not the results that matter as much as the processes involved in trying. One must learn that success is not measured by hooked fish as much as the challenge of trying new casts, new flies, and the experience gained in the process.
Life can be downright frustrating if you’re living only for what the world defines as successful results. Sometimes the rewards of our work don’t match up with the effort involved. Realizing that processes matter in life is a great lesson in life’s pursuits. Whether it be a failed company or a successful endeavor, the process of both provides us wisdom and perspective. Meaning and purpose often come from the process not the results.
Life Lesson #4: Patience
I once asked a fly fishing guide what was the greatest lesson he had learned in guiding and he immediately said, “patience.” I think that’s right. It’s not easy to learn how to fly fish and it’s not easy to keep fly fishing. Especially if you talk to other sport fisherman who simply drive up to a pier or boat somewhere on a lake and throw on a worm (real or artificial) and start casting. It takes about five minutes. Then, here you are “Mr. Fly Fisherman” driving into the mountains or woods, arriving on a fast-moving river, studying the river, determining what fly to put on, checking the weather, looking for signs of trout activity, and then casting and casting and casting to no avail. In fly fishing I would define patience as continually casting, continually working on the presentation of your fly, continually changing to new flies and catching no fish. It happens.
Life is a continual cycle of gaining patience. Effectiveness in any endeavor is the turn of events we encounter and learning to patiently accept what cannot be changed, but changing the things we can. Knowing the difference is called wisdom and wisdom is only gained through patience. From waiting on people to waiting on God, patience is one of the great virtues of life.
Pastor Steve