Freedom

By Mike Hall, February 6, 2017

The Henryville caddis had floated about two yards when a good brown appeared below it like a beam of butter-colored light. It tipped back and we were tight. The fish held in the current even though my rod was bent back into the cork, then shot out into the shallows in a wild aerial fight.

I got it close three times but it managed to churn off through the shallow water.

Finally, I had it and turned over its cold form upside down in my hand, checked its length against my rod and removed the hook. These, I decided, were the yellowest, prettiest, stream-bred browns I’d ever seen.

Then I turned it over and lowered it into the current.

I love the feeling I get when the fish realize they’re free. There seems to be an amazed pause. Then they shoot out of your hand as though you could easily change your mind.

From The Longest Silence by Tom McGuane. (Terrific writer on fishing)