Is fishing just fishing?

Well, during our stay on the beach, we were greeted with superb beach-going weather, and as a result I took advantage to wet a line just about everyday. During my trips I was able to pattern a nice flounder bite and grossed enough for a family meal of crab and shrimp stuffed flounder with a homemade crab butter…glowing remarks nonetheless, even my wife was impressed. However on the last morning, I shifted gears and went looking for trout. I specifically targeted the surf just outside of the little lagoon pass, and I couldn’t ask for a more beautiful morning, with absolutely no wind, a great incoming tide and bait everywhere…the only problem, the trout never showed. I mention this, because as my wife and I were driving home, she asked me if I had a good time fishing all week, and of course I said yes, but she could sense a little hesitation since I hadn’t caught any trout. So she asked, “what is it about catching trout that interest you so much?” “Isn’t fishing, just fishing?” I got to thinking about her questions during our 13-hour drive back to San Antonio and when I pulled into our drive way, the only word that I could muster was a simple one-word answer, no. So why is that? For me targeting trout, as I’ve mentioned before, is a mission. When I’m fishing for trout isn’t to just to catch fish to sustain my family with a meal, but an opportunity to catch, photo and release (CPR) a big trout, and to watch and feel that big girl slide out your hand and lumber back into the unknown, with thoughts of wondering how big she’ll be if she lets you catch her again. It isn’t just for the sake of “stretching the string” but to target, pattern, and execute cast after cast the feel of a subtle tap of a mule trout inhaling a bait, and the joy or regret of a trout coming over or coming off right at the gunnel of the boat. It isn’t just for the sake of being out “on the water” but the growing anticipation of hitting the mother load and filling a limit in no time, when you haven’t had a bite in hours.

You see for most, fishing is fishing, but for me trout fishing is in a class of its own. It has the ability to keep me up the night before with anticipation of a new day, and pop me out of bed before my alarm sounds. It also has the ability to make an angler push the environmental limits for that “just one more” fish with a storm bearing down on a hot bite with fish every cast, and it has the ability to forge bonds between anglers just like me, to speak about “the best trip you’ve ever been on” and share every intricacy of that legendary bite. Yes, the more I think about trout fishing, the more excited I get for the cooler days of the fall and winter when I can slip onto a flat and target those monsters, but for now fishing will have to be fishing until I can go trout fishing.

Again, sorry for the delayed post, but tight lines and God bless!
Chris