Brain Health : Fly Fishing

You guys that follow me on here know by now how much I value the Earth. Being a steward of the Earth, and forming a direct relationship with Nature is one of the most valuable things you can do.

I was really stoked to interview my good friend Sean about his self care practice - fly fishing! After our interview, I realized that it’s a blend of meditation, warrior activation, and conservation all in one. What a fantastic blend. Check it out:

Dr. Kirk: Hi Sean, thanks for taking a few minutes to talk about fly fishing. When did you first start?

Sean: I started fishing when I was a kid.  Probably 33 years ago. My Uncle John taught me how to fish when I was 4.  I still have some semblance of that memory. It was originally lake fishing, in lakes.  When I graduated college, a good buddy of mine invited me up to Buffalo, and he taught me how to fly fish.  That was when my obsession started. When I learned to fly fish. I started fly fishing all the time. It was basically love at first fly hahaha.  It was super relaxing but exciting at the same time. In some sense I was hunting, I was stalking my prey.

Dr. Kirk: Oh I love this. Activating your inner warrior.

Sean: Yeah, you might say that.  I think that’s pretty accurate.  You get into this constant casting motion.  You get into this state of mind where you’re not really thinking about anything except for the fly landing in the water, and the fly flowing in the current.  And that’s all you’re focusing on. There’s very little variation. Until finally you land a fish, and that’s like icing on the cake. The most endearing part is the process of casting and floating your fly on the stream.  

Dr. Kirk: Ok, so I see aspects of meditation here. Clearing your thoughts, to focus entirely on one thing, one technique if you will. One motion, one repetitive hand-eye coordinated movement. Focusing entirely on the fly flying through the air, and landing in the water, and flowing in the current. Sounds relaxing.

Sean: Big time. It’s a lot like a meditation for me.  I always joke about how men have this box in their heads.  And they open up their box and its completely empty. And they love to spend time inside that empty box.  It’s a lot like meditation. Yeah. I think us men compartmentalize things more than women. There’s the car box, there’s the kid box, and I have an empty box too, and I like to open up the empty box.  I do that when I’m meditating.

Dr. Kirk: Ok, so how often are you able to fly fish?

Sean: On a normal basis, I’m fishing once a week.  Regularly. I was doing rock fish on the Choptank River.  I had a canoe, I would paddle out at night, at sunset, and then paddle back at dark. I was actually fly fishing from the canoe, solo on the river.  It was really enjoyable. Obviously, my son is slowing that down, he’s only one-year-old.

Dr. Kirk: And you just moved now, how’s that going to change?

Sean: Yeah, I just moved across the country. Now that I’m in Seattle, there’s the Yakima River.  The Yak. It’s a 45 minute drive from me. There’s a lot of Sea run Cutthroat action on a lot of the islands near me.  I hope to do some surf fishing as well. Cutthroat trout is a species of trout that lives in the ocean and fresh water.  Sea run Cutthroat. It’s also fly fishing, from the shore. So it’ll be a little different compared with how I was doing it off the Chesapeake, but still the same.

Dr. Kirk: You think you’ll fly fish til you’re an old man?

Sean: I think I’ll fish for the rest of my life.  I see guys at the river in their 80s. I see some of the older guys that can’t get around too good, just loving to chat.  They’re out there to talk. They can’t even fish, but they come out and watch the younger guys fish, just to be a part of it. It’s a community. The old timers with us young guys. Sometimes I’m all alone on the river, but some of the blue ribbon streams in Colorado, you’ll see guys fishing in clubs almost.  There’s like different conservation guys all fishing together. You might roll up on your favorite hole, and there might be a few guys. I usually see different people, but in a sense there’s a community.

Dr. Kirk: Oh wow I had no idea that people are like forming a community out of this. I kind of envisioned some competition. Like I had assumed people would be territorial over their rivers or their fishing holes. And not want others around.

Sean: It’s the total opposite of that. There’s a whole community aspect of it, which is another level I love. Guys are out there trading flies.  If you see someone else on the river you’ll ask what they’re using, what’s catching. Most guys out there will even offer you up a few of their extra flies to you, so that you might be catching just like they are. They’ll share their homemade flies that are working. It’s the opposite of competition. It’s community. Telling people what flies are working and then sharing them. I was out in Florida last year visiting a buddy who does fishing tours, and I gave him a bunch of flies.  And he was saying how great it is with fly fishers always sharing their flies, but when he takes other non-fly fishers, they don’t share. Non-fly fishers are like trying to jack his equipment. I don’t know what it is about fly fishing, but we share. Maybe its the flies. Folks are proud of their flies.

Dr. Kirk: So tell me more about these flies.

Sean: When I’m not fishing I’m making my own flies. I make them mostly out of bird feathers, and different animal furs, like deer hair, hair from rabbits, elk, there’s a lot of pheasant tails, peacock tails.  Twine, copper, to create a thorax on the insect. It’s like you’re literally making an insect, in different stages of development, from pupal to spinner, which is a fly that flies in the air. In nature, they emerge from the water, and spin around and fall back in the water and die, and that’s where you see the most action is the spinner fall, you see trout rising to the top of the water. The trout are emerging rom the bottom of the river, 75% of their diet is emergent insects.  The most action packed fly fishing, is fish eating on these spinner falls.

Dr. Kirk: It’s like mimic-ing the life of a fly, and tricking a trout into thinking your homemade fly is a real fly falling into the water. You mentioned your one-year-old son. Will you take him out at some point?

Sean: I definitely plan on teaching my son to fly fish at some point.  I really look forward to that. It takes a bit of coordination, more than other sports, like playing soccer. Fly fishing is more fine hand eye coordination, probably wait til he’s 6 or 7.

Dr. Kirk: Love the father son aspect of all this. And the community. You know as dads, it’s important to pass this kind of stuff on to our kids. What else do you gain out of fly fishing?

Sean: I gain a sense of calm.  An appreciation of natural beauty, and the excitement of catching a fish.  The excitement is more the icing on the cake. I’m totally fine with not catching anything that day.  Just to enjoy a beautiful day on the water. And peace and quiet. You’re gonna see birds landing. You see the natural world pass you by on the water, it’s really peaceful.

Dr. Kirk: I’m totally sold, sign me up next time I’m in Seattle. Loving this nature stuff.

Sean: I’m not speaking for everybody, but I think most fly fishers are pretty good stewards of the river.  Most don’t keep fish. I never keep fish. I think they’re an important part of protecting the rivers.  I only buy equipment from companies that are non-profits or that donate profits to conservation efforts.  I think people that don’t fly fish don’t realize how important rivers are to our well being. I think fly fishing is actually protecting the earth and protecting the waters.  I will only keep fish if I’m fishing in the ocean really. When I was fishing for rock fish and striped bass on the ocean in Maryland, I noticed some good populations of fish, then you’re in your rights.  But on the rivers in fresh water there’s less. When there’s less fish, it’s not right to keep those fish. You have to give them back to the river. Let them swim another day. Really the only time I keep a freshwater river fish, is it if it’s invasive, like rivers that have non-native brook trout, you’ll keep those, because you’re protecting the native species.

Dr. Kirk: Do you ever accidentally kill the fish?

Sean: The fish can die if you’re not careful about the bite.  It goes back to the difference between a fly and a regular. The fly rod is very long and skinny and the fly is very delicate, so there’s a balance. You have to bring the fish in very delicately, but you gotta be careful to place back in the river, but most skilled fisherman are good and careful about that.  I’ve caught the same fish in the same river multiple times. You can definitely harm the fish if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Dr. Kirk: Wow, I love this whole aspect around reconnecting with nature, and being a steward of the river. I had no idea that this was even a thing in the fly fishing community. I respect it so much more now. I really value any practice that focuses on conservation. A lot of our societal woes go back to this aspect that we can just take from the Earth and that the Earth is ours for the taking. But when we shift that thought process, when we can shift it more into the realm of mutuality. The idea that we are all apart of the Earth. That everything we do affects ourselves. If we can truly shift more into that mindset, then we are shifting more into our higher self. Into what we really our. Into our real power. Thanks Sean, this was a really powerful interview.

Sean: For sure man!