[Kzyxtalk] Steelhead

[John Sakowicz]

STEELHEAD


Steelhead in late-summer/early-autumn put up the hardest fight of any freshwater river fish in the world.

They are bright and silver. They are aggressive. They will move long distances to slam flies and lures in the early fall season.


And they are big.


Steelhead that spend a third year or more in the ocean before they return to the river to spawn, are usually larger than 37 inches and weigh more than 20 pounds. State records for steelhead are usually in the range of 30 pounds.


*


With summer steelhead underway and autumn season fast approaching, I'm here at Clearwater River in Idaho with a friend. He is an accomplished angler.


Quick casting strokes? Lifting power for longer heads or heavy sink-tips? Casting for distance? Casting into a strong head wind? Casting into the most technical conditions?

No problem.

His line cuts through the wind. He throws lots of line at long distances. And his line goes out really, really fast with lots of action.

His thin running lines do not migrate between the spool and frame. His heavier lines lift easily.


*

Me?

I neither fish nor hunt. I'm a vegetarian, and I'm opposed to cruelty towards animals or killing for sport. I'm a "hippie pacifist" among my friends who hunt and fish. A "subversive".

Yet, I come out here with my friend, and other friends who also fish or hunt. We go to Idaho, Colorado, and Montana, mostly. They fish or hunt. I write. I photograph. I also like praying in nature.  I pray for the fish and wildlife, and also for the environmentalists who protect them..

And I make careful note of my friends...the transactions between hunter or angler, and nature.

I pay attention...darkly.

These transactions are complex, referential, and deliberate. They call into play not only chi flow, and time of year and time of day, but also primal memory, and the brain stem's dorsal column-medial lemniscus pathways for fine touch, vibration sensation, and proprioception. Intuition, passion, and fantasy are part of these transactions, too, between hunter/angler and game or fish. All of it converges in one lethal instant.

I am a witness. I stand a few feet from my friends. I am a hippie pacifist with a notebook and camera.


John Sakowicz



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