One of the supreme benefits of spending time fishing the mountain streams of Virginia is the tranquility and beauty they provide.
It’s easy to find serenity in the moving water, the cathedral of trees and the ever-changing scenes I encounter as I meander along.
While my main purpose is to fish, the fact is the solace of these beloved mountain streams gives rise to a calm rarely found anywhere else.
Perhaps it’s my age—where the end is closer than the beginning—and I realize how important it is to savor the moments for what they are. Not to let stress lay its hand on my shoulder and ruin what’s left. Especially when I’m fishing.
As Traver wrote, “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.”
Cultivating calm while facing those other concerns is a work in progress for me. It takes training and discipline. But as I get better at it, the more rewarding it is. Now I try very hard to carry the serenity I find in the mountain streams into my day-to-day endeavors.
It seems to be working…
Your mountain streams or mine…solace is in both…and we are richer for finding it.
Like many before me I was drawn west and now call Idaho home, but if there is ever a place where my soul resides it is on a little stream in the Highlands of New Jersey watching beautiful little brook trout.