How’s The Fishing? 

“How’s the fishing?” is a common greeting between anglers as well as an inquiry. When asked that question, most anglers will give a brief report on how the fishing is. 

Whenever Harvey P. was asked how the fishing was, he would often answer, “Just terrible.” Harvey was my fly fishing mentor when I was a youngster.

“Why do you tell them that?” I asked. “You do very well almost all of the time.”

“If I say I have caught a bunch, then I will be asked what I caught them on.” Most people we run across are bait chuckers, and don’t know Trichoptera from Tyrannosaurus Rex if one bit’em in the butt. I’m not here to give fishing reports,” he grumbled. 

“Yeah, but I have heard you sometimes give the same answer to a fly fisherman.” 

“Yes, for a different reason,” said Harvey. “ If I tell someone that the fishing is good, that may not hold true for them. How good the fishing is depends on your level of skill and knowledge of the water you’re fishing.” 

Harvey continued, “ Fly fisherman are more tuned in to ecology, conservation, catch- and -release, all that stuff. This sport needs more people like that. If a beginning fly fisherman doesn’t have initial success, he may become discouraged and quit the sport. So, I like to tell them the fishing stinks.” 

“I don’t quite get the point,” I said. 

“Well, if I say I the fishing is good, and this fella doesn’t catch any, or very few, then he may feel a little frustrated. On the other hand…” 

I interrupted. “There are four fingers and a thumb.” 

“On the other hand,” Harvey resumed, “ if I say the fishing stinks and he catches some, then he is going to feel pretty good about his fishing prowess.” 

Prowess? I hadn’t heard that word before. Just to be safe I would look it up in the dictionary when I got home to be sure I could use the word in the presence of my parents. Sometimes, words in Harvey’s vocabulary didn’t fit into all social situations. 

“Jeez, Harvey, I didn’t know you were such a humanitorium.” 

I thought I had just learned that word from Increase Your Word Power quiz in the Reader’s Digest. Wrong. 

“The word is humanitarian,” said Harvey. 

“Oh,” I said. 

“It’s fly fishermen and their organizations who say that the waters we fish today should be as productive many years from now as they are today. Your grand children should have the same opportunities as we have now.” 

“It’s a mixed bag, Harvey”, I thought to myself--- many years later.”