Why I go Fishing

NCKA browsing did get me in trouble at work, long story short the discussion ended when the coworker said, "so you torture small animals for fun". My response was, "well, yes".

A lot of the folks I work with come from other countries, and I guess to them fishing is something you do because you need food.  I actually had to explain "catch and release", and CPR : "catch, photo, release".  Here in the US if I want fish to eat I go to Trader Joe's

The idea that I would hike up to a mountain lake and catch a couple dozen fish seemed wasteful to some folks, at first, until I explained that these are non-native and predatory animals, and they are basically bred for sport, emphasizing that it is a big sport here in America.  After a while, they warmed up to the idea that for me it was primarily about going out and enjoying nature and solitude.

I also explained that yes, occasionally I kill a trout for dinner, and try to be humane about it.  I showed them some flies I tied, and even showed up once at Halloween dressed like a stereotypical fly fisherman, tweed hat and all   That got some laughs.  Now they are pretty much all cool with it. 

Sometimes I show them pictures from trips I took.  Lots of "oohs" and "aahs".

I like to see some of those pictures! I think we would all enjoy them too

Here are some pics from last weekend in the Sierra.  Brown trout from a creek on a tenkara rod.



Packrafting a lake.



Rainbow trout from the lake, caught on a 5wt glass fly rod.



Alpacka Scout packraft.



Scenic interlude.



Hiking back to the car along the river.



Some pics from fly fishing some ranch ponds.