The thrill of a fish at the end of the line, that thing that sparks from the dark water to spinal cord, is a vestige of an archetypal joy that has to do with sustenance, material and spiritual.

The worst part of losing good fish is that you cannot release them. They tailwalk across the back of your mind for days.

The thrill of a fish at the end of the line, that thing that sparks from the dark water to spinal cord, is a vestige of an archetypal joy that has to do with sustenance, material and spiritual.

Catch-and-release fishing is an ecological necessity, not my preference. The practice smacks of bad faith, an inauthentic act.