golden beetle
Active member
The recent discussion of the issue was good...
So here's what I have to add.
I know why I fly fish. I grew up next to a pond. I've always liked bugs, worms, crayfish, cicadas and water. Especially cicadas. Mayflies are so much more beautiful to watch than cicadas. But in both cases, we are watching the grand finales in the life cycle that ends with reproduction.
Very cool evolution. The mayfly lays billions of eggs. Because of that, there's no need for parenting.... Same with cicadas, and spawning fish like the Pacific Salmon. The sheer quantities of eggs make it clear that survival is a matter of statistical probability, and not nurturing, caring, loving parents.
I find that fascinating to watch.
I also find the struggle of species to survive through difficult conditions to be seen easily in the water. The water is so primitive, where life began. It is where the cold indifference of nature is on display.
It is also profoundly beautiful, in its simplicity. The mayfly doesn't seek to avoid the trout. It has no camouflage. It has none of that.
It only has lots of other mayflies, who will get the job of reproducing done if it can't. Being eaten could be said to be the job of most mayflies, that guarantees the survival of the species.
There are so many mayflies emerging at once that the trout can gorge themselves, but they can't eat every last one of them until the task of reproduction is accomplished.
Fishing is similar to the things that calmed?, pacified, hypnotized? and fascinated me as a boy. The bugs and the water.
So now I fish for those reasons still, but the give and take, the sharing and taking, that is why I fish today.
I look at streams today with my kids in mind, and to watch their fascination with nature develop will be an awesome journey.
I fish to see, to understand and to share, and accept the world as beautiful for what it is.
So here's what I have to add.
I know why I fly fish. I grew up next to a pond. I've always liked bugs, worms, crayfish, cicadas and water. Especially cicadas. Mayflies are so much more beautiful to watch than cicadas. But in both cases, we are watching the grand finales in the life cycle that ends with reproduction.
Very cool evolution. The mayfly lays billions of eggs. Because of that, there's no need for parenting.... Same with cicadas, and spawning fish like the Pacific Salmon. The sheer quantities of eggs make it clear that survival is a matter of statistical probability, and not nurturing, caring, loving parents.
I find that fascinating to watch.
I also find the struggle of species to survive through difficult conditions to be seen easily in the water. The water is so primitive, where life began. It is where the cold indifference of nature is on display.
It is also profoundly beautiful, in its simplicity. The mayfly doesn't seek to avoid the trout. It has no camouflage. It has none of that.
It only has lots of other mayflies, who will get the job of reproducing done if it can't. Being eaten could be said to be the job of most mayflies, that guarantees the survival of the species.
There are so many mayflies emerging at once that the trout can gorge themselves, but they can't eat every last one of them until the task of reproduction is accomplished.
Fishing is similar to the things that calmed?, pacified, hypnotized? and fascinated me as a boy. The bugs and the water.
So now I fish for those reasons still, but the give and take, the sharing and taking, that is why I fish today.
I look at streams today with my kids in mind, and to watch their fascination with nature develop will be an awesome journey.
I fish to see, to understand and to share, and accept the world as beautiful for what it is.
