What fishing really means to us

Dave and I talk lot together. We have conversations about a lot of things, not the least of which is fishing and why we do what we do. Go figure:) We both have a similar perspective - fishing is very often seen as entirely a results based sport. That may seem  like an obvious statement, as the purpose or definition of the word is to get a fish fooled by your offering of fly, lure or bait. However, it's this results based  aspect that is not appealing to either one of us, as it can and does bring out the comparative and competitive nature in anglers. Instead, it's the experience of exploring new water with rod in hand that draws us to the sport, not how many or how big the fish. Sure, Davie and I have had fun days of big fish and many fish, but those aren't the days that stand out in my memory. A few days ago, Dave and I explored a new spring creek in NZ that we had sussed out on google earth. We started our day with a friendly chat with the farmer who owned the adjacent property. He had a jovial, fun loving type of personality and after a number of good laughs and hearing about his life and sharing about ours, he gave us information on where to fish the creek. As per usual he knew his creek very well and everything he told us about it happened. We really only walked ~ 2 km of stream that day, but the lush green vegetation around us was simply some of the prettiest we had seen to date - large ponga fern trees, huge beech covered in mosses and other plants, yellow buttercups and purple fox glove. It was a feast for the eyes and it had me clicking endlessly on the camera. Ya, we hooked a few trout, but the neatest part was the stalking itself and the video footage of the life of the stream. Sure, you can think that NZ is all about big browns and only amazing fishing, but it's not that everyday and if you read our other blog posts you will realize that there are an abundance of other factors that affect fishing "results". If we didn't stop to admire our environment and take in the world around us and appreciate it for its beauty and its differences to what we have in Alberta, we would really miss the boat. I simply thank God for adventure and the ability to explore.
This photo taken below is from a different day of heaven on earth, but it tells the story of our environment on NZ waters and the adventures involved.