Column: Of Words and Warmth

They say the next best thing to fly fishing is reading about fly fishing. I’m not exactly sure who “they” is but maybe that’s the point. No one has to take responsibility if it’s nonsense. The they is some ambiguous body of people who makes up a lot of phrases that we use today.

They say practice makes perfect. They also say nobody’s perfect. They contradict themselves, but they’ll never admit it. They say it’s better to be lucky than good, but someone said that the better you are, the luckier you get. Someone has said a lot too, though they often go by their pen name, anonymous.

Anyway, I was feeling like reading might be a little warmer as I stood waist deep in cold water waiting for the steelhead I hoped was there might bite. Not that warmth is a fun indicator, but at that moment, it was pretty appealing. Being simply comfortable can sometimes be an indicator of a boring, unfulfilling life. Discomfort tends to be where growth and good stories are made, but being miserable for the sake of being miserable, or just to brag to others, sounds like a waste of time. Being miserable because the payoff is worth it, is a more understandable reason to make that choice. Enduring the cold to bring a bright winter steelhead to hand is most definitely worth it, but it doesn’t happen just because you’re out there.

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