CRISP, CLEAR AND COOL MORNING: ON FISHING

Dawn on the Last Day of June

A beautiful morning, heralding a sunny weekend, at least that's how it sounds this morning on NPR.  It was 52 degrees out when I woke, sun peaking over Long Point about 6:06, about 22 minutes after the scheduled sunrise, at 5:44.  I guess it takes that long to rise from sea level to 1300 feet above sea level.

I was reading SUNDIAL OF THE SEASONS this morning and loved his take on fishing so much that I will quote it below:

"There is a common accepted fiction that fishermen go fishing to catch fish.   Some do, of course, but more don't.  The fish caught are only a lesser part of the catch.  The greater part is the day in the open, the little things that feed the eyes, the ears, and the soul, though we are so perverse and so practical that we seldom talk about them...It's the fishing, yes.  The way a fly follows a riffle, the way a plug plops, the way a wormed hook goes down into a deep pool.  The strike, the rush, the play of the line, the sound of the reel, the catch or loss fish.  But it's also the gleam of a dragonfly, the rattling of the kingfisher, the stark awkwardness verging on grace and beauty of a heron.  It's the slow climb of the sun, the slow travel of the shadows, the drift of the cloud.  Fish? Oh yes, one must have a reason and the day must have a purpose.  But it's the fish, really, the dawn and the morning and the day, and man's knowing that it's still there, still real"


How true, as I am in to zen fishing, or goal-less fishing, 'to travel is better than to arrive,' the going not the catching is what it's all about, or so I try to convince myself as I labor to get a simple bite.  I did hear some bass boats early, though there's no tournament, and as I look out at the lake, I see nary a boat.  How nice and quiet to hear only the chattering birds, not the roar of a bass boat.

We had pizza last night for dinner, homemade of course, as we continue to try and find the best pizza dough recipe.  Unfortunately, by the time we make the next patch, we have often forgotten which recipe we used the last time.  We need to be more organized.  But, I love pizza, especially when we make it ourselves.  Tonight it's pork tonkutsu, my request, panko crusted cutlets with a Tonkutsu sauce, a Japanese ketchup.  Served with cabbage, it sounds good to me.  Why do we want certain things to eat?  Where does the taste for something arise?  Two days ago it was German potato salad, yesterday pizza, and for some reason this morning, it was pork tonkutsu...perhaps I read about it, or something reminded me of it.  I am not sure.