40 Plus Years
Guiding Insights from “The Old Man and the Sea”
When one has been fly fishing for 40 plus years and guiding for 25, there are changes in one’s perspective. In Hemingway’s “Old Man”, a young boy admires the old man Santiago and says that he is the best fisherman, to which the old man replies, “No, I know others better” and then adds…..”I may not be as strong but I know many tricks and I have resolution”.
In thinking about this resolution I have wondered as a guide of 25 years and a fly fisherman of 40 plus years what I have “resolved” in my heart.
Just as the old man Santiago denies being the best fisherman I gladly do the same. I am resolved to the fact that I am not the best fly fisherman, nor, guide on the river. Being resolved on this issue takes a lot of the pressure off and frees me up to simply enjoy fly fishing and guiding much more. And of course, I am resolved in knowing how ridiculous it is in trying to define a set of criteria that would determine such a label and distinction. Such honors and distinctions are fleeting at best and at their worst, completely meaningless. Even in the tale of “The Old Man and the Sea” we see the fleeting nature of making a great catch. The giant marlin that the old man finally catches is then attacked by sharks and the old man goes home with nothing but the skeletal remains. Fishing and guiding has a way of humbling even the “best”, bringing us to “bare bones”. I personally, while fishing or guiding, have broken off, “mis-netted, “mis-guided” or in some fashion lost more fish, fallen in the river, and did just about every stupid thing imaginable in the realm of fishing that there is absolutely no room for boasting. I have been humbled far too many times to ever make a claim of being the best or any where close to it. And often when my clients have make wonderful catches they happen in such a manner that it really has little to do with my instruction. I have had clients do exactly everything I taught and yet fail to make big catches and at other times the client does everything wrong and defies all my instruction only to make a wonderful catch. When one had been guiding for many years you learn there is a lot of irony in fishing. And I am resolved to accept such irony.
We see another wonderful quality in the old man that is closely linked to humility that can also come with age. While Santiago was battling the great marlin Hemingway writes, “Then he began to pity the great fish he had hooked”. He wondered about the age of the fish and wondered what the fish was thinking and planning to make its’ escape. He considered the fish as being mysterious and wonderful and he respected it.
After guiding on the Platte for 25 years I am also resolved to pity the fish and to have respect for the resource and to do all that I can to protect it. As I have written elsewhere I am resolved to the fact that “catching and counting’ as many fish as possible separate from some form of pity and concern for the resource is sheer stupidity. Over the decades, I have seen many fisheries “pounded to death”. I have seen fly fishers and guides standing in the same exact spot for 6 hours day after day without moving. As guides we must have some bigger vision of what it means to teach others about fly fishing and this certainly means taking some form of pity on the fish and having concern for others. I am resolved that guiding should involve teaching in such a way that leaves the client with more knowledge, skills, and fascination and respect, rather than a claim of a certain number of fish netted on a given day.
Besides having resolution, the old man Santiago does make one other claim that old age has brought him. He says that “he knows many tricks”. Obviously, these are tricks that only come with old age and years of experience. These tricks will compensate for his waning strength. The tricks of older guides can mean many things and I guess they would no longer be tricks if I spelled them all out. Nor, could I. All I know is that after guiding and fishing for decades there are simply certain things I have learned in order to deal with an ever changing set of variables that might occur on the river on a given day. These tricks take into account the conditions of the river and the skill level and attitudes of the client and countless other variables. The veteran guide simply knows when it is time to move, maybe only a step here or there or knows when it is time to change holes completely; knows when it is time to change a technique or change the fly; knows when it is time to speak and instruct and when it is time to back off and remain silent. And even when the client has broken off his 5th fish in a row the veteran guide knows how to patiently and calmly reinstruct without making the client feel bad. I know I could not do these things in my younger days.
I think perhaps the greatest “trick” and form of resolution that a guide can possess is to be resolved to the fact that the fishing trip is NOT about him. It is not about the guide. It is not about the guide’s ego. It is not about how many fish the guide netted or how many fish could have been netted. Nor is it about how many fish the guide could catch or how many he caught last week or last year. I guess, if nothing else, the old age of 40 plus years of fly fishing brings the veteran guide to a place where they have nothing to prove anymore to anyone; not the client nor one’s self, but can only give and offer to the client what decades of fishing has taught him so the client can then go out on one’s own and learn their own tricks and their own place of resolution.
As a guide, I hold out my bag of tricks and offer 40 plus years of fly fishing experience to those willing to learn and knowing all along, it is not about me.
