The Magic of Fishing for Trout

Trout fishing invites one to meditate and at the same time gives us the chance of understanding the deep meaning of a sunrise, the trees, or the wind on our faces.
The quilted moss over the rocks turns into an ideal site to rest for a while and admire the world that fishermen must know in order to understand the true magic of fishing.
Trout fishing is the flight of the swallows capturing insects in the air with precision, the bite of an eagle on a hare that at the last minute mocks the predator with a quick lateral turn, the angry singing of a kingfisher when we invade his favorite creek, a roaring male deer while it crosses the river without noticing our presence, the changing color of vegetation throughout the fishing season.Trout fishing is the color that fades away in the river during the afternoon, the diamond glow of the rapids that turns to the color of lead while the reds, blues and yellows in the water turn into a unique metallic shine which sometimes is golden, at the time the green of trees and bushes slowly loses its glow giving way to a grey tone that announces the end of the day.
Fishing for trout is the wind and rain in a distant shore, or relaxing in a car while we drink a nearly cold coffee and finish the rest of the sandwiches, recovering the necessary heat to go back to the river.
Fishing for trout is also the trout itself in its environment, slowly curling its fins, closely watching the surface in search of a bite.
Fishing for trout is the delicate dance of mayflies and caddis over the polished surface during those afternoons with no wind and the movement of the trout towards the surface, a ballet of grace and precision that only leaves us with fleeting circles on the surface which enlarge and disappear with the same smoothness as the being that created them. 
The next time you are fishing, take some time to observe the most delicate and refined insect, an adult mayfly. These fragile creatures are a perfect creation that only lives a few hours. Most of its life it lives under the surface like a nymph. The adult mayflies give a life lesson, in no other insect the adult has such a short life and such a singular purpose. We have to appreciate it as much as we value the sunset because both last an instant and they disappear like fog, without us noticing it. I ask you to resist the temptation of casting a fly when arriving to the shore and check the first mayflies over the water, or the first trout.
Maybe when it gets calm again after our clumsy arrival, a big and unexpected silhouette materializes right where, until this moment, our eyes had not discovered anything.
It’s the trout we always dreamed of that appears after the smaller ones have done what they had to do, like a big boar that arrives to the watery only when it feels safe. Sitting in the quiet under the trees while we watch, we can calmly plan our next movements; this is the magic of fishing for trout. The value of the small details that surround us in every moment.
The world of trout is an event or, more precisely, a series of events sometimes subtle or violent that are totally interrelated, were each one precedes the next. If our mind is open we can instinctively predict what is going to happen and act without clashing with the natural pulse.
There are fly-fishermen that never seem to get it right with the precise “Timing” that takes us to fish trout with efficiency.
One watches them running from pool to pool with a frantic rhythm while they try to cover the greater amount of kilometers that time allow them too.
Others perpetuate in a pool punishing the water hour after hour without interruption, upset that there was no bite as if that was the only attractive thing about fishing.
Certainly the water that we can see far away has a huge magnetism, and it’s not easy to resist the idea of a huge trout in the next curve. This is an important part of trout fishing, the exploring spirit in new waters, to see what there is beyond. But most important is to go back to the old and familiar places where we started, to get to see the small things that slipped in our way looking for so many dreams. We started to fish for trout when we valued other things, not only the trout we could fool. This does not mean it´s not important to take out trout, or that a day with no catches is better than those when we seem to take them all out. It means that for the ones who know how to watch, Nature offers wonders capable to soften any fishing frustration, and then we will find the true magic of fly-fishing, the power of small and big details that can take our attention at any moment and tell us lots of stories. Being in a hurry blocks our mind and removes us from Nature. It is not good either to be in a hurry to know everything; once in a while a modest ignorance can be very relaxing and satisfactory for the soul.
A fisherman can’t force its fortune by being annoyed or dissatisfied; he has to wait for the right time, the water conditions or the fish’s appetite, besides other factors that can’t be controlled.
It’s no good to wish for a catch so much that anger appears, as when fishing we not only have to enjoy our achievements but the path that these lead us to or not.
There are lakes and rivers I have gone back to so many times that the trout in each curve or bay have turned into something very close, almost familiar, to the point that if I make a precise cast and it does not bring back one of these fish, I think that another fisherman, a less caring one, has gone through the place before me and taken away my friends.
There are trout that I know very well and have been with me for years; I have also missed some of them at their usual spots, thinking that they had died, only to see them again this season. I have fished lots of them frequently over time and, strangely enough, trying to catch them becomes more interesting and challenging each time.
There is, however, one trout in the Upper Malleo River that allowed me to fool her just once, and is still right there testing my best skills. Each time that I try and fail, I think in that line that says that we are all equal in the face of a fish and I am grateful to that trout for the lesson given to me, about humbleness and the need to keep on learning, renovating senses that are well asleep deep in our cells.
The Lower Malleo has a pool where I always lose a big trout. The water is deep and turbulent, with the bottom filled with many big rocks.
It has turned into a pool where I always stop to rest and watch for a while, a pool which I fish with great respect and care trying to change the results that I’ve had until that moment.
The last season, almost by night, something huge took a foam mouse and cut the line in the sharp rocks of the bottom. I only saw a big massive flank followed by an impressive tail, as the brown trout disappeared with the mouse in its mouth not to come back. That brown trout, and others that I have fished, make me a better fisherman.
I hope it all happens again this season, because I have fought with that trout in my imagination hundreds of times, convinced that it will always be waiting where we met the last time.
Not having fished sharpens all senses in depth, something that does not happen when we are successful. When we catch fish, we tend to think that it is because of our knowledge of fish, or due to our skills, and we reject luck; only to raise our ego. Instead, a day with no catches forces us to think of thousand of reasons that explain our failure; that is a better teacher than success.
When we fail, we recover the reason and the balance of things, it’s good to realize that not all the fish are the same; some require that we master our abilities in order to defeat new conditions.
While I think on what would have happened if I had taken out that trout, my life as a fisherman does not change at all. On the contrary, the fish that got away encourages me to dream much more than those caught, making us fight with more strength to protect those sites where we know the real value of things lies.
Like every fisherman, I remember all the fish that I lost and it is comforting and a pleasure to remember each pool in particular. Each pool is an entire charming world with a universe of things and beings that surround it.
Fishing is really fascinating, any type of fishing, but the places where some fish live, like trout and golden dorados, have a special power that deeply affects the fisherman´s soul, generating feelings that we will not feel in other places. In these places, fishing only to get a fish impoverishes and isolates us from the harmony and beauty that surrounds us.
Fly-fishermen, especially trout fly-fishermen, make up a family that for an outside observer may look united and connected; however, there are big differences in its core.
The dry fly purist rarely tolerates the one that neatly explores a pool with a wet fly, the nymph fisherman does not doubt that this kind of fly-fishing is the most technical, and the ones that look for big trout with elegant streamers do not even consider another kind of fly-fishing.
Still, a particular thing happens when fly-fishing is attacked in some way, then we all get together to join forces against the opponent. There is no doubt that fly-fishermen have been of great help regarding the conservation of fishing areas.
With the growth in population, wild spots are becoming increasingly more limited each day. He who appreciates fly-fishing and the serene beauty of the places visited has to look for the way to preserve and keep the original values of this kind of fishing.
There are many kinds of natural beauty, from the vastness of a starry sky to the millions of life forms created by Nature itself. But there is something special, something that renovates the spirit and recreates it for all those who get to walk a river and listen to the music of the water and its creatures.