Body-Mind-Soul Fly Fishing For New Converts This Fall
fly fishing soul body mind #flyfishing
It seems like it was a long time ago that I decided to dedicate Sundays to the “Body-Mind-Soul” aspects of fly fishing. Nowadays, the Body-Mind-Soul mantra is my entire life outside of fly fishing – as it probably should have been all along.
I had the opportunity to talk to two old friends about fly fishing last night over mountains of sushi at a restaurant in nearby Frisco, Texas. It was an interesting monologue because I knew the male half of the couple, celebrating their anniversary, was and is, extremely susceptible to passionate digressions that have most recently taken him into, of all things, chainsaws and welders; buying, repairing and selling them as a hobby. He was the source of my passion for Toyota Land Cruisers when I purchased my FJ-60 way back in 1997, long before fly fishing (BFF), and he still runs his rock crawling FJ40 on organized outings a couple of times a year – all across the USA.
I began to talk about fly fishing with a higher emphasis on my usual warning: “This sport is extremely addictive.” I tried to explain the art of the cast, and how important it is to learn good form and habits early – much like a golf swing. And I described the new skiff, and how it is basically like nothing they have seen, or probably would see on any local North Texas waters. Some things about a saltwater boat on fresh water are hard to explain, like a poling platform, or gunnels that are walkable around the entirety of the boat (making it a “technical” poling skiff, I explained).
In the explaining of this addiction, I realized just how far gone I was in assuming “everyone probably knew this stuff.” It took a moment, or two, to roll back the vocabulary and take nothing for granted. How refreshing to be able to imprint a few words, a few images on new tabula rasa.
This morning it occurrs to me that I will be coming across a lot more people in coming days, weeks and months – who could possibly be indoctrinated into this world we already, sometimes too quietly, love. While these people work on my body, little do they know I’ll be looking for a crack in their door – to capture a fragment of their mind, maybe a little peace of their soul.
Category: Body-Mind-Soul
