Ep:5 Alone in the Woods is "High Church."

Today I had the pleasure of fishing with my favorite fishing buddy. I floated a local flow and fished as hard as I could for 11 hours, caught a few fish and cleared my mind. I didn't hear a negative word and I didn't see another person... I like to fish alone.

I've spent countless hours roaming creeks and woods by myself since I was a kid  and I guess I've grown accustomed to it. I like the solitude and peace that goes along with that but I also crave the challenge of accomplishing a several night solo camping trip complete with weird sounds in the night and all the other creepy things that may go through your mind. I like that fear, I also like squashing it. I have realized that most of the things I've been warned of that created fear are false...usually old folk tales or stories passed down that were originally told to keep folks off of a mountain that held a precious whiskey still or simply told by someone ignorant of nature. "Lions and tigers and snakes...oh my!"

Enough of that...here are some things that are only OK to do when you're fishing alone but will definitely draw unwanted attention among other fishermen.
-backlash
-get hung up in a tree
-set the hook on a stump
-mix canned tuna with my instant mashed potatoes.
- forgo the day of fishing to wade through the bramble and thickets of a creek bottom to pick pawpaws

***last but not least***
-while camping I can snore all I want.

My favorite time of year to fish and camp is the dead of winter. I like when my face is chilled by the cold wind. I love the sound of snow landing on my hammock's tarp, the crackle of an essential campfire, the deathly quite the winter woods have and to be honest ...trout taste best in winter. I love the challenge of finding fish in 38 degree water then trying to catch them, it's almost as  challenging as finding another human that equally enjoys these same things.

So what benefits does all of this give me that being in company can't? Besides the  challenge of fending for myself, it offers solitude and in solitude is where I'm closest to God. When you are free of petty fear, can stop talking and pay attention... nature can speak in a spectacular way. My idea of the perfect place has no negativity, fear or hate and I've only been able to find it...alone in the woods. It is "High Church!"

Nature's Tiny Details...

Spirituality and fishing go hand in hand to many folks. I get it, some may not and that's OK. Its not catching the fish that brings out the angels blaring on their trumpets, as a matter of fact the fish is simply "the bait". They lure me into traveling from one beautiful place to another in search of adventure and big fish.The adventure part usually pays off but the big fish deal is iffy at best. One thing that is guaranteed...if you're really quiet, pay attention and immerse yourself into nature, god will speak. I'm not the only person that feels this and if you think this is crazy then there are a plethora of crazies paddling around our local rivers, creeks and lakes. God doesn't say, " Hey Jim, how's it going...Catching anything?, Try the bubblegum trick worm." It is spiritual...no voice but at the end of the day you've received a message. Here's the deal...You witness perfection, on a grand scale! I have a theory about a tiny fish I observed not too long ago. The fish was a coosa darter and there was a community hanging around some rocks in a local creek. It was spawning season and the males were doing their courting ritual. The females are a drab subdued color but the males look like they'd fit in on a Fijian coral reef with their beautiful colors. The female would swim onto a flat rock then one male would show up, then two...flaring their fins and doing their best mating dance. I assume these were young males because eventually a bigger male would pop out of a hole in the rocks, stroll towards the little female and "break it down", I mean a dance that'd swoon any girl all while the others males would either run for cover or at least give him plenty of space. I thought about what I'd witnessed on and off for the next several days. Lots of different animals do similar routines during mating season on land and in water but "why?" Here is my theory and it most certainly is debatable... Only the bigger stronger males get to mate so the species is guaranteed healthy offspring and the species can continue to survive. You say, "no duh, Jim, we watch Nat Geo too." There's more...these old males are smart and they're schooled in survival. They didn't swim around in the open like the smaller young males, they were hiding in the rocks, swam maybe 3 inches did their jig and disappeared. The young males were swimming to where ever a female was and dancing 10 times more than the old men. The young males were learning valuable survival skills, they were getting stronger and more agile in this fish version of teenage hormones that would surely help out in non mating times and in the next mating season "IF" they didn't get eaten by the red eye bass that was lurking around this little rock pile. So, I just explained in a lot (for me its a lot) of words a pretty common mating ritual. One thing, who has ever seen or even knows what a coosa darter looks like...show of hands please?...OK, not many, only the people that immerse themselves in nature or someone with the Fisheries Dept. So my theory is although these beautiful little 3 inch fish go through all of this,(by the way it is a perfect system), for their own survival, the main reason is so I could watch in amazement at God's handiwork and draw from it that there is no other way tsurvival was not a carefully thought out plan by a creator. When you witness things like this while in nature it puts you on high alert every time you are in nature, you're eager to see more of the same and it constantly solidifies my belief that nothing in untouched nature is an accident. God spent a lot of time laying this stuff out for us to marvel at and it's a real shame that only a small fraction of people even want to see these types of things. I don't know what your gods name is and I don't care...if you can find the beauty and amazement by staring for hours into a creek watching some fish then you are my friend.

Nature... More than meets the eye.

I've been on vacation for the past two weeks and and had a great time with my wife and daughter but hoped for something epic to write about in regards to fishing. I spent three days at Disney World with my family and a few days on the beach. Back at home I fished the past four days straight and I'm still trying to figure out what the bass are doing in my area. I did see a couple of manatees in Florida, several eagles on the some local lakes and caught a personal best stringer of bass on lake Blue Ridge but the actual fishing wasn't very noteworthy...I don't have any monster fish to pose with or a hot lure to talk about but what this past week or so has given me is some insight into what lies under the covers of a fishing trip. To many, going fishing is as much of a spiritual or religious event as a church revival. With the launch of your kayak and that first paddle stroke you enter into a world not much unlike that of primitive man...except the boat is plastic, the paddles are carbon, maybe an electronic depth finder etc. but that's not important. I'm talking about the overall experience we attain by floating deep into nature, places you can't see from a road, where an ecosystem is as perfect as it can be in this day and age. What makes such an enormous impact on myself is when I pay very close attention to these surroundings, there is little to doubt about it's creation. You don't paddle along thinking, "damn, this crap shoot in the universe turned out perfect"...my thoughts are about the precise planning that went into nature, the obvious love and passion it took to create such mesmerizing beauty and to gift you and I with eyes and a brain capable of seeing and appreciating it. That in itself is mind blowing. Whether your god has a name or not ,these trips we take into his creation definitely bring us closer to him and allows us to worship in a way that is free of today's current events, opinions and agendas. We worship by simply being human and in awe of nature. Negative thoughts are left at the gate and few words are needed to get his message across. I started out kayak fishing as an economical way to fish a diverse range of waters and soon realized that it was the way for me to attain a higher relationship with my god, Jesus Christ. My religious beliefs aren't up for debate nor am I trying to convert anyone but if more people had an interest in nature, visited regularly and truly appreciated it the world would definitely be a better place.