Look Up

One midsummer night, during a new moon, I fished from dusk till dawn in the marshes and estuaries where I first started striper fishing not all that many years ago. I caught a number of beautiful fish, and watched each swim away strong. I sniped bass popping on the marsh banks using the same sort of presentations one would fish to rising trout. But more importantly, I also looked up.

Early on, C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) started the show in spectacular fashion. Seeing it, and getting a mediocre photograph of it, before it disappeared not to return for thousands of year, is a huge highlight of my year. But the night had just begun, and the dark moonless sky just kept showing new faces. The milky way spread across the inky darkness, making my jaw drop each time I looked up. A very distant thunderstorm, so far away that it wasn't in range of the closest radar sight, sparked the most exceptional show of red sprites I've ever seen (if you don't know what sprites are, here is an excellent video explaining the phenomena by my favorite youtuber: Red Sprites and Blue Jets Explained).

Anglers often end up outdoors at times of day and under weather conditions when most people are apt to stay indoors. If we don't take the time to appreciate the non-fish related occurrences that transpire while we're out there on the water, we're doing ourselves no favors. 

Look up. Look down. Look around. Stop and listen. Smell the smells the breeze brings. Fishing is absolutely about catching fish... but not to the exclusion of all else. 

 
Until next time,
Fish for the love of fish.
Fish for the love of places fish live.
Fish for you.
And stay safe and healthy.

Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, John, Elizabeth, Brandon, Christopher, Shawn, Mike, Sara, Leo, and Franky for supporting this blog on Patreon.