Conservation

The Why's And How's Of Catch And Release Fly Fishing

To Release or not release, that is the question.  Over the years, as I share with people my passion for fly fishing, the conversation always seems to come back to the question, "do you eat your catch?"  Now, I have no problem eating fish. 

In fact, in my youth, before I was introduced to fly fishing, I chucked bait and ate my share of the fish I caught, often as a badge of honor (some of what we caught wouldn't make it down the gullet without a grimace no matter how well it had been seasoned and prepared).  Even more recently, I've been on big game fishing excursions in Mexico and Hawaii where everyone on the trip feasted on our catch, and what we weren't going to eat went to the crew who fed their families with it.

Now, I was never addicted to fishing until I started  fly fishing for trout.  On my first fly fishing trip, after I was told we would be practicing Catch and Release, I asked, "So, what's the point then?"  Now, I couldn't imagine keeping any trout I caught...  of course, unless I was hungry.  When I go fly fishing though, I am not in survival mode.  I pack food with me and my camp or car is close by.  Most of the waters I go fly fishing at are protected waters with strict fishing regulations, and most of those are wild trout waters.  These are waters that are not stocked with hatchery trout.  As far as I'm concerned, you can catch and eat your limit of hatchery trout, just let the wild ones go please.

Why?  Well, first of all, as I learned from that first catch and release trip, keeping and eating the fish is not the point.  I was enjoying some fine tequila and cigars with a good buddy just the other day and he was sharing with me why he likes to mountain climb.  He told me that when he is working his way up a face, everything in his mind just fades away and he reaches a different and sublime frame of mind where all he is thinking of is in the immediate:  how to get to the next hold.  He said that when he makes the summit, it is exhilarating; he is exhausted and relaxed at the same time.  I just smiled and said, "Are you sure you're not talking about fly fishing?"  I have never found anything so blissfully meditative and spiritual.  At the end of a day on the water, I am spent, yet unbelievably relaxed.  Ultimately, that is what I'm after, not how many dead trout I can bring home.