Schwiebert's Reminder
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Schwiebert's Reminder
#1Hi Guys, I came across this again, so........
People often ask why I fish, and after seventy-odd years, I am beginning to understand.
I fish because of Beauty.
Everything about our sport (and our cause in terms of TU) is beautiful. Its more than five centuries of manuscript and books and folios are beautiful. Its artifacts of rods and beautifully machined reels are beautiful. Its old wading staffs and split-willow creels, and the delicate artifice of its flies, are beautiful. Dressing such confections of fur, feathers and steel is beautiful, and our worktables are littered with gorgeous scraps of tragopan and golden pheasant and blue chattered and Coq de Leon. The best of sporting art is beautiful. The riverscapes that sustain the fish are beautiful. Our methods of seeking them are beautiful, and we find ourselves enthralled with the quicksilver poetry of the fish.
And in our contentious time of partisan hubris, selfishness, and outright mendacity, Beauty itself may prove the most endangered thing of all.
Ernest Schwiebert - 2005[5]
Jay Edwards
People often ask why I fish, and after seventy-odd years, I am beginning to understand.
I fish because of Beauty.
Everything about our sport (and our cause in terms of TU) is beautiful. Its more than five centuries of manuscript and books and folios are beautiful. Its artifacts of rods and beautifully machined reels are beautiful. Its old wading staffs and split-willow creels, and the delicate artifice of its flies, are beautiful. Dressing such confections of fur, feathers and steel is beautiful, and our worktables are littered with gorgeous scraps of tragopan and golden pheasant and blue chattered and Coq de Leon. The best of sporting art is beautiful. The riverscapes that sustain the fish are beautiful. Our methods of seeking them are beautiful, and we find ourselves enthralled with the quicksilver poetry of the fish.
And in our contentious time of partisan hubris, selfishness, and outright mendacity, Beauty itself may prove the most endangered thing of all.
Ernest Schwiebert - 2005[5]
Jay Edwards
- chsparkman
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Re: Schwiebert's Reminder
#2And that paragraph, as well, is beautiful. He sums it up very well. Thanks for sharing.
In my last three years of my teaching career, I taught a class called Theory of Knowledge. In it, we studied at length the importance of beauty in the human experience.
In my last three years of my teaching career, I taught a class called Theory of Knowledge. In it, we studied at length the importance of beauty in the human experience.
...as for us we pin our faith and fealty to the silk-wound PENTAGONAL rod cunningly yet simply devised of its FIVE subtle, individual triangular strips of cane throughout...
Holden, George Parker. (modified by me) Idyl of the Split Bamboo
Holden, George Parker. (modified by me) Idyl of the Split Bamboo
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Re: Schwiebert's Reminder
#4Not trying to be elitist, but totally agreed.
My Dad took me floating on the Buffalo River in AR when I was 4 years old. Been hopelessly hooked since. Thanks Pops Still have pics of him, his pipe, and the canoe from the 50s when he started. The Ozarks area was a lot different right after WW2.
I am having morning coffee here in central Missouri, looking out my kitchen window and watching the MO river roll by. Compared to the Cimarron River [ pic your fav ] the Missouri is a ditch. Sure it has 50 lb cat fish and eagles abound but...not the same.
My Dad took me floating on the Buffalo River in AR when I was 4 years old. Been hopelessly hooked since. Thanks Pops Still have pics of him, his pipe, and the canoe from the 50s when he started. The Ozarks area was a lot different right after WW2.
I am having morning coffee here in central Missouri, looking out my kitchen window and watching the MO river roll by. Compared to the Cimarron River [ pic your fav ] the Missouri is a ditch. Sure it has 50 lb cat fish and eagles abound but...not the same.
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- steeliefool
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Re: Schwiebert's Reminder
#6Totally! I love to stick my nose right at the surface and check out the stream bottom while waist deep. All kinds of beauty there.
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Re: Schwiebert's Reminder
#7Thanks much, Jay!
Scott
Scott
Flyman615
"An undisturbed river is as perfect as we will ever know, every refractive slide of cold water a glimpse of eternity" - Thomas McGuane
"An undisturbed river is as perfect as we will ever know, every refractive slide of cold water a glimpse of eternity" - Thomas McGuane
Re: Schwiebert's Reminder
#8Testament of a Fisherman
By: John D. Voelker
1903 - 1991
"I fish because I love to; because I love the environs that trout are found, which are invariably beautiful, and hate the environs where crowds of people are found, which are invariably ugly; because of all the television commercials, cocktail parties and assorted social posturing I thus escape; because, in a world where most men spend their lives doing things they hate, my fishing is at once an endless source of delight and an act of small rebellion; because trout do not lie or cheat and cannot be bought or bribed or impressed by power, but respond only to quietude and humility and endless patience; because I suspect that men are going along this way for the last time, and I for one don’t want to waste the trip; because mercifully there are no telephones on trout waters; because only in the woods can I find solitude without loneliness; because bourbon out of an old tin cup tastes better out there; because maybe someday I will catch a mermaid; and, finally, not because I regard fishing as being so terribly important but because I suspect that so many other concerns of men are equally unimportant -- and not nearly so much fun".
By: John D. Voelker
1903 - 1991
"I fish because I love to; because I love the environs that trout are found, which are invariably beautiful, and hate the environs where crowds of people are found, which are invariably ugly; because of all the television commercials, cocktail parties and assorted social posturing I thus escape; because, in a world where most men spend their lives doing things they hate, my fishing is at once an endless source of delight and an act of small rebellion; because trout do not lie or cheat and cannot be bought or bribed or impressed by power, but respond only to quietude and humility and endless patience; because I suspect that men are going along this way for the last time, and I for one don’t want to waste the trip; because mercifully there are no telephones on trout waters; because only in the woods can I find solitude without loneliness; because bourbon out of an old tin cup tastes better out there; because maybe someday I will catch a mermaid; and, finally, not because I regard fishing as being so terribly important but because I suspect that so many other concerns of men are equally unimportant -- and not nearly so much fun".
- chsparkman
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Re: Schwiebert's Reminder
#9bobk, that is also a good one! These men have such a way with words, to describe so eloquently what we feel inside about one of our favorite pastimes. I'm envious of their talent and skill.
...as for us we pin our faith and fealty to the silk-wound PENTAGONAL rod cunningly yet simply devised of its FIVE subtle, individual triangular strips of cane throughout...
Holden, George Parker. (modified by me) Idyl of the Split Bamboo
Holden, George Parker. (modified by me) Idyl of the Split Bamboo
Re: Schwiebert's Reminder
#10Hi Guys, Ernie uses a capital 'B'. Traver was my first when I lived in Michigan. I bought 'it' when it was first published.
Jay Edwards
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Re: Schwiebert's Reminder
#11Thanks, Jay for your post. I believe beauty is the thing most available to human beings and, too often, the last thing we bother to look for, but there it is, right there, if we but pause to look around us.
Heck, a sunrise or sunset can take my breath away! Same can be said of hiking into a stream just as the sun is coming up and you can see the dew diamonds sparkle on the grass and bushes. I have been known to shed a tear at the stunning colors on a wild trout in it's spawning colors. And, it is available just by opening our eyes and SEEING what is right before us. And, that's just using our sight! All our senses should come alive in the outdoors.
Thanks Jay (and Mr. Schwiebert & Mr. Voelker)!
Pat
Heck, a sunrise or sunset can take my breath away! Same can be said of hiking into a stream just as the sun is coming up and you can see the dew diamonds sparkle on the grass and bushes. I have been known to shed a tear at the stunning colors on a wild trout in it's spawning colors. And, it is available just by opening our eyes and SEEING what is right before us. And, that's just using our sight! All our senses should come alive in the outdoors.
Thanks Jay (and Mr. Schwiebert & Mr. Voelker)!
Pat
Re: Schwiebert's Reminder
#12Ernest Schwiebert was the real deal. He's one of the few fly fishing authors I have read.
Re: Schwiebert's Reminder
#13The man had a way with words. I have always loved his writing. I was blessed to spend a couple hours with him one day, walking along the Big Spring in Newville, PA, talking about the stream, fishing, flies, and all of it. He was every bit as eloquent in person as in print. The gentleman angler!
...a wink of gold like the glint of sunlight on polished cane...
brightwatercatskill.art.blog
brightwatercatskill.art.blog