 |
The High Church of Salmon
The private camps of Canada are where faithful anglers go to worship the most romantic of fish
Pete Bodo
From the Print Edition:
The Sopranos, Mar/Apr 01
(continued from page 3)
Nobody really knows why salmon take a fly, because they cease eating when they return to fresh water. But sometimes, that gaudy little object swinging over a salmon triggers an aggressive or territorial instinct and induces the fish to levitate and seize or chase it. In the process, the salmon may leave a great wake, or create a huge boil at the surface as it swiftly turns with the fly and returns to its lie, steadily pulling line from the reel and effectively hooking itself. Those precious moments are always filled with sensation and awe, and are never quite believable. Those moments represent the living mystery that is the salmon, and they are celebrated in the way of life found in the great salmon camps.
Tucker died last spring, and his camp is now in the capable hands of his neighbor Rick Warren. Still it's hard to comprehend that I'll never again see him weeding out the dandelions, or spot him from a distance as we approach the dock at twilight, standing on the small deck high on the bank above the dock, hands thrust in his pockets. He often waited there, vigilant, a little lonely as perhaps all lifelong bachelors appear. He was always eager to know if we "saw anything." I saw many things fishing at MacLennan Lodge as a guest of Tucker's for 20 years, and some of them even had to do with fish.
Pete Bodo is Outdoors columnist for The New York Times. His latest book is The Atlantic Salmon Handbook.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
RSS