Winter fly fishing isn’t for the faint of heart. 'Midwinter Masochism' wades into the icy trials, raw beauty, and relentless spirit needed to fish through the cold. This is fly fishing at its most unforgiving.
"My heart breaks a little each time I break down my rod and toss my soggy waders into the back seat before driving home. But we learn to make peace with heartbreak. The heartbreak of losing a fish, or worse, killing one. The heartbreak of the trusty weathered rod broken in a car door. The heartbreak of knowing that someday you’ll be too frail to bear the beatings of wind and rain, too weak to fish all day without stopping for lunch. The heartbreak of discovering that one day you just can’t fish at all, or worse, have no one left to fish with."
I feel that in my bones, especially watching the generations before me grow frail. The things that break our hearts the most are the things most common to man, and frailty will one day belong to us, as you've said.
Thanks for your comment, Brittany, and for subscribing! Sometimes we get lucky as writers and stumble on a kernel of truth while we poke around in the darkness looking for the next word to write.
We feed the same jones here with Lake Ontario tributaries. And yes, it’s the pits. Until a steelhead decides to grab the fly. 😉
Hooking into hot chrome can make even the ugliest day instantly weatherable.
This paragraph got me:
"My heart breaks a little each time I break down my rod and toss my soggy waders into the back seat before driving home. But we learn to make peace with heartbreak. The heartbreak of losing a fish, or worse, killing one. The heartbreak of the trusty weathered rod broken in a car door. The heartbreak of knowing that someday you’ll be too frail to bear the beatings of wind and rain, too weak to fish all day without stopping for lunch. The heartbreak of discovering that one day you just can’t fish at all, or worse, have no one left to fish with."
I feel that in my bones, especially watching the generations before me grow frail. The things that break our hearts the most are the things most common to man, and frailty will one day belong to us, as you've said.
Thanks for your comment, Brittany, and for subscribing! Sometimes we get lucky as writers and stumble on a kernel of truth while we poke around in the darkness looking for the next word to write.