My friend Hank and I are fishing the South Platte. It is running high. It is difficult to see exactly what the fish are doing.
I noticed Hank would sometimes allow the fly to drift longer in the run before making his next cast. Other times he was picking it up quicker and casting to a fish he sighted. We talked about how some times we "just know" which course of action to take and there is not much rational logic to the decisions we make while fly fishing. We also talked about how perhaps it is a rational process but we just skip over the steps rather quickly. We call this immediate knowing intuition. Some-times, we "just know."
All I know is that Hank was hooking lots of fish. Nice fish. There was not much science to our fly selection: San Juan worm, Brassie and RS2's. Same old flies. Often the fish hit at the end of the drift where he allowed the fly to drift that extra 3 inches before picking it up to cast. Sometimes it seemed as though Hank just knew when to allow the fly to drift a tiny bit longer. That last few inches of drift was the "window." We might logically conclude that the fish struck at the end because the fly was coming up off the bottom like an emerger or perhaps it was because in the heavy flows the flies were finally down "in the zone." We were not sure. Hank just knew, at least at certain times, when to let them drift. And often he was rewarded.
We fished one last one as rain threatened over the canyon walls. Hank was fishing a nice deep run. I watched him let out slightly more line and allowed a longer drift. Right at the end of his drift a large cutt-bow of 19 inches exploded out of the water having taken the fly in the last few inches of drift.
Hank "just knew." We both just knew and we also knew it was time to go home. We felt it in our skin as the rain coated our outer garments.
Nice article Anthony. Where does that intuition come from? It certainly wasn't from long years of experience. A gift from God, the passing of confidence from a teacher to his student. What ever it was, it was serendipity. Hank
ReplyDeleteHank, Not sure if you want to dialogue some here on the blog on in private email but to answer the question you posed I will say a few things. You ask, "Where does the intuition come from"? I rarely can answer any question of depth (and this is a question of depth) easily and quickly. Yet, with that being said I seem to always be looking for God as the source of all things including those moments of clarity (or intuition) we sometimes experience. There have been times when I felt I almost immediately knew something and those experiences are quite mysterious. Yet, there have also been times when I perhaps read "too much" into something (I call this "Over-spiritualizing.") and I am flat our wrong and did not know. There have been times when I thought I was going to land a 12 pound rainbow but then it broke free in the last seconds. Whatever I thought I knew.... I did not. Yet, again, there have been several times when I only barely sensed "some-thing" wonderful could happen, as though I was being given the slightest sensation; a type of "clue" into some great mystery and sometimes, to my own amazement, it came to fruition.
ReplyDeleteAnthony, I think it is all a mystery. And each experience has to be judged separately. Why I caught so many fish when I was with you and none the next day when I was along, is a mystery. Was the water flowing so fast that the fish went elsewhere, what caused me to pause at the end of some drifts and not others, was it because I sensed something that I could not name, or knowing that a lot of fish are caught at the end of the drift. I paused. When I jerk the line quickly was it because I felt something and when I allowed the pause was I just letting the line straighten it self out so I would not tangle the three flies. So many questions. I don't want to dismiss our intuitions as accidents because too many people have said to me, "I felt it in my bones." When push comes to shove, my fallback position is, Accept the mystery with gratitude and savor the moment
DeleteAnthony,
ReplyDeleteI believe we serve a wonderful God. This being said, I truly think that fishing intuitions are just one of several gifts he allows us to experience. I too, have been blessed when I listened and allowed myself to let go and try something that otherwise did not seem to make sense for the time and conditions in which I fished.
Scott, Yes.. I do think such experiences are gifts. The things that happen in life that "do not make sense" and surprise us, are to me the most wonderful; (Like when a big fish strikes at the end of a drift and we are looking elsewhere). Such experiences help me realize it is "not about me" (or at least not as much about me as I had thought!). We participate in "some-thing" beyond us, and yet within. Intuition can be the gift that helps us participate. I have had some similar experiences in other areas of life and knew the beauty of not completely understanding. Thanks Scott for sharing.
ReplyDelete