Over the past few months on this blog, I have posted a handful of entries about the relationship between man and fish. How do we characterize that relationship?

 

I’ve shared on here some thoughts about taking photos of fish in the summer months — and how one guide cautions against taking too much time to have the already-stressed fish out of the water too long to take the picture.  Anthony shared his thoughts just earlier this week about stalking big Browns on the Dream Stream, particularly during spawning season.  Commenters on our Facebook page talked about the ethics of “catch and release.”  How does the way we handle a fish show our relationship for it?

 

Of course, in a different twist on the man-fish relationship theme, we have the whole “greenback cutthroat trout” discovery in Bear Creek.  What is our relationship with those 750 fish in that four-mile stretch?  I have written about being stewards of our waters and protectors of the fish in them.  In that sense, Angler’s has a partnership with Trout Unlimited, our own Cheyenne Mountain Chapter of Trout Unlimited, specifically.  

 

Kirk Deeter recently wrote beautifully about the relationship in an article in Midcurrent‘s “Fly Fishing Jazz” series entitled “Sparring Partners.”  He writes that he has an ongoing relationship with one big Brown in particular. Some fishers use the word “quarry” or “adversary” as they pursue their fish.  He comments that, with this fish, the relationship  might be like a dance, but Deeter ultimately chooses the “sparring partner” metaphor.  He and this Brown have forged this relationship over the past two seasons.