Nothing can compare to that feeling you get when you lift your rod up and feel that head-shake tug at the end of your line.

There's something about the old Tom Sawyer thing " A day spent fishing ..." that is as true at 50 as it was at 15. You know, I still have a tough time sleeping the nite before a fishing trip because of the anticipation!

We are incredibly lucky that the places where salmon and steelhead live are some of the most beautiful settings in the world. To see those puffy white clouds stuck in the deep green trees of a an old growth stand is beyond compare. Nature reveals its beauty in the mist rising from water at morning's first light. To come around a bend and see an elk or deer or bear quietly working its way through its environment is to understand that we are all connected and part of a much larger existence.

Fishing is an opportunity to interact with this environment rather than just observe it. In addition to the visual beauty of the setting and the sleek, silver bright fish, our other senses are filled with the fresh smells after a rain, with the feel of a fish's energy that travels directly from its heart and soul through the line and rod right down to your soul, and incredible sounds that a river can create with its water flowing over and arond boulders the size of homes.

For me, now I think the motivating factors are: the pure joy of being outdoors in a beautiful setting, Either being alone (mostly) or with good friends to share an experience, maybe having a chance to pass on some of the things that I have learned to others, and lastly checking out some new technique or lure/bait and hopefully continually improving my skills by tricking one of those sneaky devils into biting.


"Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after."
- Henry David Thoreau