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I look up from the water and see a coyote in the middle of the meadow. Our eyes meet. I look down for a place to sit. When I look up again, the coyote is gone. I look up the ridge for a glimpse of the coyotes departure but see nothing--no movement--the coyote has disappeared. A different type of catch and release. Friendships can sometimes be like that. Time and friendship is sometimes measured in seasons. I sit here remembering. The thing that stands out in my mind right now, this very instant, is how short life is. What do I take and what do I give in my flash of time? What do I miss? Am I brave enough to think and feel? Am I brave enough to connect deeply with nature? Am I brave enough to connect deeply with those I call friends?
6 comments:
Beautiful fish Robert. Whish I could have played at the Hoppertunity, but with the hopper fishing as insanely good in my local creeks as it has been, well it is hard to justify a 2+ hour drive to other waters. When I am having 40+ fish days with 1/2 in the 14 or better inch range on skinny water I don't wander.
I am going to have to get some more twisted foam hoppers and O2 hoppers from you. But with the weather forecast for my area (snow any time after Wednesday) I may not be in any rush.....
Kevin
Thanks for the comments Kevin. Once again, I do not make it up to your woods. maybe next year, unless this storm is just a quick reminder that we do live in or near the Rocky Mountains, and things warm up again. If I get motivated to tie again, I'll put you on the list. I seem to get too many irons in the fire and jump from one thing to the next.
Robert,
Good questions/thoughts on relationships. I have one close friend (count 'em--one). I have many more I "call" friends, but are they really friends? What exactly is a friend? Maybe my one close friend should be called something else, bosom buddy? Naw, somehow that's a bit too feminine or something. Non-biological brother? Nope, that's a mouthful. Anyhow, I'm sure you know what I mean. There's the type of friend you can really open up to and share things with that you don't do with all of your other friends.
Can you have a friendship with "nature"--the great outdoors--and all she encompasses? I think so. But there can possibly be a void there that only another human friendship can fill. At least for me. I'm sure there are people who are completely happy walking away from humanity and never looking back, but I can't quite go there.
Connections is a word you used. I wonder if connections are deeper than friendship, or shallower? Is the root of friendship, or the beginning?
Thanks for the food for thought!
Do I see twisted foam hoppers sticking out of the mouths of some of those fish?
Do I recognize that river?
Thanks for letting me fish with you--it was a lot of fun. I hope we can get together again.
-scott c
Nice response Scott. I know my last few writings have taken a reflective and maybe strange turn to be placed in with the trout pictures, but I always joke that trout are some of my closest friends. They never really say bad things about me even though I stick a hook in their mouths and tease them with fake food.
You make me think more too. I think I used the word connect as something stronger than just calling someone a friend. Once you have that connection, you don't want it to go away. When it does, that is where the void comes in.
Most of the trout took the air-filled hopper. I did switch to the green and tan twisted hopper and took a few.
The creek is the one I asked you if you ever fished, and you said yes. Small water.
Maybe we can get together before the real snows hit.
Give me a holler before you head up this way again.
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