Johannes Bulfin does his best to try and explain to his mother-in-law about the virtues of catch and release. I get the feeling it fell on deaf ears.
Catch and release can be a contentious issue, so can mother-in-laws be!
Sunday morning. We are staying with my parents-in-law. The laptop is open and YouTube clips are being flicked through with a hot cuppa in hand. I’m off in New Zealand battling it out with a ten pound brown that’s stripping line off the reel and forcing me to stumble along over boulders desperately trying to regain line…
“Morning.”
“Huh? Oh morning”. I pull my nose out of the screen and look up as my mother-in-law sits down beside me.
“What’s that?”
“Here, watch this!”
We watch as the angler pulls the trout into a deep turquoise pool and eventually nets it with a whoop of triumph.
“That is a big fish”
I couldn’t agree more but I just smile, enjoying seeing the euphoria of the unknown fly fisher. The video rolls on and he releases the fish…..
“He put it back”. A statement of disbelief if ever there was one!
I’m about to attempt to explain how it’s not really about catching fish for eating, especially as they are pristine wild fish and that anglers travel from all over the world for the experience. Then I stop myself and decide to test the waters a little more.
“Have you ever tried fly fishing?”
“Yeah”
“What did you think?”
“You catch way more fish with nets!”
I concur that setting a 100m monofilament net across a lake for a night would certainly be an effective way of catching fish. Satisfied that she’d won her case I’m left on my own again. The scenes of magical fish and places have lost their shine for me, closing the laptop I feel a bit like I’d been caught watching porn!
Catch and decease fishing is deeply ingrained into the previous generations here in Finland. It’s not difficult to see why really if you stop and think about it for a minute. Two world wars and hard economic times afterwards made sure that all sources of food were utilised. Unfortunately the tendency to knock every fish that comes out of the water on the head has stuck around for a bit longer than necessary. Thankfully though many of the new generation of anglers are much more aware of the consequences of overfishing and exploitation.
I’m on the lake, the boat swaying rhythmically to my casting strokes and the line shoots out just the way I want it to. The only way that cast could be more perfect would be if …. “YES!!” A couple of runs and a little jack pike is in the net. Perfect cast, fantastic visual take and a pretty little pike. I couldn’t have asked for better. I slip the pike back. Despite my fingers stinging with the cold I can’t stop, the fish are feeding and I’m getting strikes, an odd fish and just having a ball.
I return to the house, I’m barely in the door when I hear a shout from the living room;
“Well, did you get anything?”
“Ah no, ‘fraid not. A bit cold for them I’d say.”
“Pity. “
I’m peeling out of my million layers of clothing, when I think to myself; “Ah here, this is just stupid. Besides I really shouldn’t be lying to my mother-in-law.”
The walk into the living room seems long - very long - in my mind Heart of Courage is blaring full blast. I straighten my back, lift my head. I’m coming out and that’s it!! The cat looks away in horror and scampers under the couch covering its head with its paws, squinting out with one raised eyebrow.
I sit down on the couch, watching the TV together for a minute.
“Actually I caught fish and I put them back again!”
Silence and the slightest sideways glance in my direction.
“I thought you might be one of them alright…”
If I had declared that I had just cheated on her daughter I would have probably been greeted with more enthusiasm.
”….but you do whatever makes you happy and don’t mind what I think”.
A look over in my direction and a smile before turning back to the TV! Ha, well that feels better already!
“Can I tell you about one of the takes so? It was amazing, the pike just came out of nowhere and…..”