"Rivers and the inhabitants of the watery elements are made for wise men to contemplate and for fools to pass by without consideration."
-Isaac Walton
I was recently talking with a fellow fisherman when he mentioned fishing in a river that I call home. I was not upset, as I have seen several people fish there, but he knew of a few spots that are along a private stretch where their is very little access. Most people either have to know someone, or be prepared to float 17 miles to the next access. Thus, I was a little upset when he was talking about MY hole!
This brought me to an interesting paradox that we often face as fishermen. How do we proclaim and even preach the idea of waterways being public and want to string up those that find our favorite holes by the toes?
I don’t mind fishing where there are others. I have fished Current, Eleven point, and Meramec, so I know that there are packed parking lots and holes that are occupied. I don’t crowd others or try to push them from holes. By all accounts I am a good natured guy with a live and let live attitude toward others. I have even float past people sitting in their own backyard and have no issue tossing a bug right in front of them, but this all changes on MY River at My Hole!
There just seems to be something about those places that we hold sacred, those places that we grew up fishing on, that makes us unwilling to share. The funny thing about the jealousy is that it is strictly one-way. I know that on any given day I am fishing I could be getting the same stink eye that I am so willing to dish out. What makes this jealousy even more ridiculous is that there are several people that all claim the same stretch of water.
So how do we handle these irrational emotions? I have personally thought about rigging my kayak with a spear to ram and sink others… but that is another story for another day…. The real answer is that I don’t know.
In the end, rivers are public, and I am glad they are, but there will always be one stretch of river that I will think of as my own.
~Shawn Seabaugh
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