Why Do You Fish?

[DZ]

The tide was way up with the new moon. The clay bluff before me was barely passable. "Lots of water moving tonight" I said to myself as I timed a receding wave so as to scurry around the bluff. (I talk to myself occasionally while fishing the surf. On many nights it’s the only company I want). I was into my fifth hour of casting and I was beat with little to show for it. I had been pounded as the flooding tide pushed waves into my body on the islands east side. I was cold and wet, especially my sleeves and neck area. I could taste the salt water on my mustache as I licked my chapped lips. I was totally exhausted, running on stale coffee and Pepperidge Farm cookies. The thought of a warm bed back at the cottage beckoned me. "What the hell am I doing out here?" "Cold, dark, stumbling around on slippery rocks, getting beat up by waves." It is a question I often ask myself when I cast the beach alone. A question that I always have the same answer for. I love it! Surfcasting is my element, my passion! I live for nights like this. Besides, I can't quit now; there are still four hours of fishable tide left.

That's why I fish.

DZ