Rock Creek, a bit above Bishop CA, has built a fine reputation for fall fishing, with an appreciated bonus of the aspen turning into their holy gold. But every rule has an exception, and September 2018 served that role. In a good 1/2 mile of fishing, quite a bit when going into and out of all the holes, not a single trout had any interest in anything I presented. Then came the first, the gentle nibble of a trout trying to discover if this was a meal, but not ready to commit himself. Just a taste. But I felt the tug and set the hook by raising the rod tip, and pulled out a trout. A minnow really, maybe 5-6 inches. I gently released him into the frigid waters of his world, rebaited and cast back in to see if he had an older sibling. Good holes will do that—the larger wiser trout will let the young ones take the risk.
Another nibble in the same place on the same hole. Same trout. Again. Just for fun, well, fun on my part, I decided to continue the game. 5 times that same trout bit, got hooked, landed, and released.
Realizing this day would bring no caught trout, I strolled back to camp, grabbed some Oreo cookies and a beer and headed for some hammock time. The next day, with the fishing still meager, I found a nice plunge pool, tossed in, but the bait didn’t follow the current when it should have. I felt some pressure on the line held in my hand, set the hook and began to bring him in, and he fought. For about 2 seconds…until he spit out the hook. A canny older trout, felt like a solid 18” in a fairly small stream.
I waited 20 minutes for his pea-sized brain to forget, but he recognized the danger and ignored the temptation.
When we make bad decisions, when we get tempted, when we face hard times and struggles, which trout are we? When we realize we’ve gotten off the rails, do we keep biting or ignore the temptation to try again?
No longer lesson today on how to respond biblically, but a time for meditation on how long we keep biting.
Kick Starting the Application
Think about some times you haven’t learned and kept going in the wrong direction. What signs and hints did you miss? Think about some times you did learn and quit biting. What helped you do that?