Gone Fishing

Today Eloise and I are going fishing. Mark is jealous because he lives in Midland and the closest fishing hole is several hours away. But he says "if you live by water, you should go fishing."

We'll pack a lunch, I'll throw in my fishing gear, and Eloise will take a good book. Fishing for Eloise is about time away to read a good book, and occasionally to say "Nice fish." Fishing for me is about time away and outside to toss plastic things or flies into "fishy looking water" to see if I can entice a fish to bite. If one decides to play, I bring it in, remove the hook, and send it back to play again. If it's a big one, we'll take a picture before releasing it.

There's something magical that happens to me when I open the gate at 7Lakes. My body seems to throw off stress that has built up.

Part of that is being outdoors, near water and birds and fish and sometimes other interesting creatures. Part of it is being so focused on fishing that other cares and thoughts are put aside.

And part of it is the challenge of "outsmarting" the fish -- using experience and skills that have been developed over time to achieve some measure of success in the day's venture. Perseverance and "hard work" seem to be part of what makes a fishing trip a success, maybe especially when the fish appear to have absolutely no interest in being caught.

Maybe it's mostly about this last part -- the use of experience, skills, and perseverance -- that make going fishing fulfilling. And that's not so different from what we do in other activities in life afterall -- if we are fortunate enough to be able to focus our vocational pursuits on areas where our unique experience and skills combined with perseverance are employed.