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So long, and thanks for all the fish

By Eric Fink

It has been a real treat to contribute to the Lounge this past month. Many thanks to the hosts for their hospitality, and to the readers for their kind indulgence. In parting, I wanted to make one last nod toward my peculiar obsession with law and fly fishing. 

In the pantheon of great Angler-Attorneys, two names are paramount: 

The first is G.E.M. Skues (rhymes with Huey, Dewey & Louie's), a London solicitor who revolutionized the world of fly fishing -- and set off the sport's greatest modern controversy -- through his advocacy of fishing with a nymph. To a non-angler, this may not sound all that earth-shattering. But to the early 20th century British fly fishing establishment -- dominated by a strict code of "dry fly only, cast upstream to a rising trout" -- Skues's advocacy of sunken flies was rank heresy. Even today, anti-nymph purism has its adherents, who insist that the dry fly is the only ethical and proper way to lure a trout. It was reading about this controversy that got me thinking about the "folk law" of fly fishing as a research subject. 

The second is Robert Traver (pen name of John D. Voelker), attorney, Michigan Supreme Court justice, and author. Best known outside angling circles for his legal thriller, Anatomy of a Murder, Traver is revered among fly fishers as one of the sport's greatest chroniclers. His "Testament of a Fisherman" nicely sums up the appeal of this pastime:

I fish because I love to; because I love the environs where trout are found, which are invariably beautiful and I hate the environs where crowds of people are found, which are invariably ugly; because of all the television commercials, cocktail parties, and assorted social posturing I thus escape; because, in a world where most men seem to spend their lives doing things they hate, my fishing is at once an endless source of delight and an act of small rebellion; because trout do not lie or cheat and cannot be bought or bribed or impressed by power, but respond only to quietude and humility and endless patience; because I suspect that men are going along this way for the last time, and I for one don't want to waste the trip; because only in the woods can I find solitude without loneliness; because bourbon out of an old tin cup always tastes better out there; because maybe one day I will catch a mermaid; and, finally, not because I regard fishing as being so terribly important but because I suspect that so many of the other concerns of men are equally unimportant - and not nearly so much fun.

If this description inspires any Loungers to try wetting a line, just let me know. I'll bring the bourbon and the tin cups. 

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on September 30, 2009 (boomark / email).