by The Annoyed Man » Sat Dec 24, 2011 11:24 am
I've only gone fishing once in the five+ years I've lived in Texas, and that trip is a whole 'nuther story that I'd rather forget, but I used to fish all the time when I lived in California. Trout fishing. The trail heads in the San Gabriel Mountains were a 1/2 mile from my house, and we lived near the Arroyo Seco. The streams of the San Gabriels usually have trout in them. And also, I used to make a lot of trips up to the Owens Valley north of Bishop and fish the tributary streams that flow out of the eastern slope of the Sierras into the Owens River.
Fishing and shooting formed the backbone of my relationship with my son. He wasn't much on sports or other things that dads and sons can do together, but he took to fishing like he was born to it, and he was a regular Davy Crockett with his little .22 rifle at the age of 6. So we spent a lot of time together fishing and shooting. You couldn't get him out of bed to get ready for school, but he had no trouble being up and ready to leave the house at 4:00 a.m. to get to the trout streams up San Gabriel Canyon by sunrise.
So not only is fishing a way for me to relax and recreate, but it is a matter of the heart because when I go fishing, I relive all the great memories of time spent with my son. It is nothing but pure good stuff.
The weird part is that I haven't fished but once since moving here. That once was a deep sea charter our of Port Aransas. It was absolutely the most seasick I've ever been in my entire life—I was stuck on that boat for 13 hours without relief, so sick I wanted to die, and I never even got a line in the water. But also, I don't have easy access to the local lakes....without disarming......and I'm not much of a bass/catfish fishing fan. I like trout fishing on streams, and not much else. I guess I'm too picky.
"Freedom had been hunted round the globe; reason was considered as rebellion; and the slavery of fear had made men afraid to think. But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing." --Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791