Fishing Memories

     E. Donnall Thomas once said: “Fish come and go.” But it is the afternoons on the stream that endure.”

An American physician, professor emeritus at the University of Washington, and director emeritus of the clinical research division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and 1990 Nobel Prize winner in  Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine.

     I can’t remember when I first started fly fishing. It was some 65+ years ago. I started with a cane pole, a long piece of line, and a small popper that was irresistible for small panfish. I can remember a lot of trips with that cane pole. The memory of the fish have faded into the murky past; but the memory of fishing for them is still bright.

     Somewhere in life, I learned that if we allow ourselves, the memory of bad times will also fade and we are left with good memories. I cannot remember the bad times in college – I am sure there were some! – all I can truly remember is that I was there and I somehow survived and finally earned a degree.

     They say that time heals all wounds. That may be true only if we participate in that healing by letting go of the dark and painful things in our past. That’s not easy to do. Sometimes, we need professional help to do that. But the effort is well worth in in the end.

     Do I remember getting hung up on a log and loosing my last lure that I spent my whole allowance on? Not really. I do remember a lure called a Heddon Tiny Torpedo that I used on Cypress Lake and caught bass after bass. And I remember a fellow named Arley, at whose campground we stayed many summers in Colorado. He introduced me to fishing with an Adams dry fly and changed my life.

     So, if bad memories are haunting you, get help. Or come go fishing with me. One thing I know for sure: You can’t brood when you’re standing in a river.

     May God bless us all with great memories.

     Doug