Sunday, July 20, 2008

One Eyed Fish or Lack of Vision

I went fishing today.... these two photos show one of the smallmouth I caught.  It's right eye was completely blind and glazed over.... something had happened when it was younger, a hook in the eye, a heron attack , who knows...  whatever it was, this fish kept on living and thriving. 
  It was easily a  twenty inches , probably 8- 10 years old. An extraordinary feat in itself, but this survivor was blind in one eye. It's tough enough to make a living in this stream with two eyes.  I don't keep fish anymore.  If I did keep fish I still would have released this one. As it swam away it's colors gradually merged with the river colors until it disappeared from sight.... but not memory.  You know how there are some people you meet who affect you in such profound ways you are changed forever?.....  well this fish did that to me today.... persistent reflections.... 
    There is so much that conspires to defeat and destroy us physically, emotionally and spiritually. The stuff that keeps us from being what we could be or should be. Is there a way when there seems to be no way?   The now... the moment in front of us... can so easily disappear without our participation when we are stuck in the past or future.  It's one of the things I love about fly fishing, everything is reduced to the moment that exist only right now.   

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