Truly Healing Waters

If you are not a subscriber to our Angler Blog or don’t check out our website regularly, you’re missing out on some great stuff! Sometimes we have informational posts such as when ice off happens on Spinney or the hot hatch on Eleven Mile, and at other times we share posts that get you thinking or excited about the great sport of fly fishing. Sunday’s post by Vince Puzick was more the latter. Here’s an excerpt – you can Click Here to read the entire post.

We probably go fly fishing for a whole lot of reasons,  each of us may be driven by different pursuits: to land a hog in one of our larger rivers, to fish a high mountain lake, to catch some of the more leary brook trout in our small mountain streams. But I think we are all driven by something other than catching a fish. Standing on the bank of a river or wading into it, we do have our blues washed away. We get drawn into the landscape, our small, finite, mortal life that for an afternoon or a day becomes part of a larger landscape. Our troubles seem small, too, if we even think of them at that moment.

Fly fishing forces us — allows us, demands of us — to be in the present moment. The rhythm of the cast. The drift of the fly. The wash of the river’s water against our legs. We are not just in the landscape but we are of it.

The sentiment Vince shared in the bold faced type above resonated with me. The fact that I am fully “in the moment” when I fish is definitely part of what draws me to the sport. And I also see why many of us find it not only soothing to our souls but sometimes even healing. I think that’s true of our wounded soldiers who participate in Project Healing Waters. (The name should be a dead give-away!) It’s a moment of time that they can focus fully on something other than their struggles.

Friday night we have a fun opportunity to gather the local fly fishing community and get pumped up about our shared passion as we watch some great fly fishing films. But the evening is for an even greater purpose: to show our support for the men and women who have served our country and were wounded in the process. Won’t you join us in providing them with moments like the ones you and I enjoy out on the stream?

I hope to see you there,
Becky