The Complete Fisherman
“We consider something as perfect, not when you can’t add anything more to it but when you can’t take anything away.”- Yvon Chouinard.
For anyone who doesn’t comb through the archives of fly fishing Youtube (so…most people), you may not have seen this short film from Patagonia. We highly suggest it. If ever Chef’s Table was to produce a piece on Fly Fishing this is likely what it would look like. It’s beautifully shot and paints a picture of fly fishing that we really appreciate. The quote above is from the film and spoken by Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard.
The short film follows Arturo Pugno, an Italian fisherman Patagonia describes as “the sport’s elder statesman.” Arturo fishes in the same way his ancestors did, with long cane poles and horsehair lines, everything made by hand. The film is a nod to simplicity and a suggestion that looking backwards to simpler things might serve us well in our hectic modern day.
In many ways that idea feels more important than ever during our current global crisis. Our lives have almost always been focused on the next thing, the next addition, the next move, the next statement. But as Yvon Chouinard says in the film, perhaps perfection is only reached when there is nothing left to takeaway. While we all want to get back to our normal lives and routines this pause has made it a little easier to see the things that truly matter. Those of us who are privileged enough to have the luxury of “too many options” may suddenly realize that what you miss most is just time with people you love, doing the things you love. Ultimately everything else can be stripped away.
Fly fishing has a certain pinnacle we are all striving for I believe. The trek up to that peak is littered with equipment you thought you needed. Special boots for specific conditions, 10,000 flies you’ll never use, a pair of sunglasses an Instagram ad swore would help you see fish. The peak, on the other hand, and that slow descent down is the territory of Arturo. The stripping away of all that excess to see only the purest form of the sport, the purest form of your experience on this earth.
We’re all just trying to make the best of our time here and that’s no easy feat. For those of us lucky enough to be safe at home and not on the front lines of this COVID battle, this is a time to reflect on the things that are essential. It’s a time to reflect on the systems we have and the way those systems treat other people. It’s a time, at least in our opinion, to let some of the excess go and blaze a path towards that peak, where only the truly important things hang on. In our simplest forms lie perfection.