Pursuit of Hapiness

I was standing waist deep in the freezing waters of my favourite trout stream, with no waders to keep me warm and dry. The spring melt had carved out the previously shallow and gentle stretch into a deep trough, funneling the raging muddy waters right into me. Looking ahead I realized I had two options, take a risky step towards the far bank and the faster water, or retreat and look for a safer place to cross. I took a quick step forward and the water started to push me over. Unable to catch my balance I plunged into the torrent and was quickly swept downstream. With a little luck I ended up on a gravel bar by the far bank where I sat for a moment catching my breath and collecting my thoughts.

At this point a part of me began asking why I was even trying to fish when the chances of catching were so slim. No fish that valued its life would risk being stuck in the same waters that had just sent me swimming. On top of that the beautiful green foliage of the summer was still in hiding, waiting for warmer days. Such are often the thoughts of the cold and wet fisherman.

No one is immune to these thoughts though. The conditions are almost never perfect, but we still venture out for some reason. Sometimes it takes sitting on a river bank, cold and wet, to realize what that reason is.

Photo: Evan Buitenhuis

When it finally comes to you the only reasonable reaction is to smile. You smile for a number of reasons, but first of all you smile because you probably shouldn’t have taken that one extra step which soaked you. You smile because in taking a second to stop and look around you see the great beauty you were too focused to notice earlier. And you smile because there is nowhere you would rather be.

As I picked myself up off the bank to continue upstream I couldn’t help but laugh. To anyone passing by I might have appeared crazy, but the truth is far from that. I had finally realized why it was I put myself through so much to just get out and fish. Fishing is not all about catching fish, just like climbing is not always about reaching the summit. Catching a fish may be the most exciting and glamourous part of it, but the journey of getting to the fish is where the most memories are made.

Walking upstream to the next fishable pool the sun dried my clothes and drove the chill from my bones. With the smile from earlier still plastered across my face I knew there was nowhere else I would rather be.

Edited with help from Danielle Gauthier