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Date: June 04, 2008 at 13:05:48
From: ken, [pool-64-223-33-122.prov.east.verizon.net]
Subject: June 4th, 08 |
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June 4th 08
Listening to fish stories is something I like to do very much. I have been listening to them for a very long time. There are fish story’s and then there are, “Fish Stories.” A good one is based on the truth. They may have a little fantasy to embellish them but at the core they are helpful and fact based for the most part. There is a long tradition of telling fish stories
that takes into account how a listener may react to them. That awareness of others is necessary to a fish story teller if he or she is looking to be a storyteller of note and trust.
Haig brown talks about this in A River never Sleeps in reference to a story he told his dad when a boy about catching rats in a barn. From what I remember he told a story about catching them in a way that his dad knew was outside the way rats act. It was a story that did not take into account the laws of nature as they applied to known rat routines and so it was not a story about rats at all but rather one about how he wanted to be seen by his dad.
It was an ego story, a fabrication and he was given an explanation of why it is important to others to tell a tale based on facts and never on wishful posturing.
His dad asked him how geese come into a pond when they land. “Into the wind,” he answered. “That is right,” his dad replied, “And if you were to tell a story about geese landing into a pond that were flying with the wind what would that mean”?
“That they were flying with the wind”?
“Nope,” he said,
“It would mean that something major has happened to the way geese fly that changes everything about how we view geese flying into the wind to land in a pond and that would mean that people who hunt geese would have to change how they hunt geese because now geese also fly with the wind when they come into a pond to land.”
“Oh.”
His dad then went on to say, When you tell a story about something you have witnessed you have to tell it the way that nature works and if you do not then people are going to believe you have discovered something about nature that was not known before and are going to try it out for themselves.”
He then went on to say, ” If you make something up about nature and it is not the truth and people trust what you say and act on that information then you are taking something precious from them that you cannot give back to them or fix and that is their time.
When you tell a story make sure you are giving something to people and never ever taking something from them.”
That is the essence of why it is important to give something to people they can use when you tell a story about fishing and not to ever take something from them.
Recently I have been hearing lots of fish stories that are a bit peculiar to say the least and it seems to be an epidemic. I have acted on some of them and gone fishing in places where I have been told that worms were hatching and that shrimp were on the surface mating and have invested many hours based on those reports. All of them have been peculiar in that the worms were not there nor were the shrimp.
Geese fly into the wind is the measure I use and when the worms are swarming in a place where they swarm and they are not there swarming as they have been reported to be, then something about nature has changed or it was a fabrication from someone’s desire to have witnessed the event even though it did not happen as told.
There is no middle ground.
It is understandable and it happens and yet Haig Browns father was right.
Never tell someone something that is not based on observation.
Speculation told as the truth is not a fish story.
It steals peoples time, money and effort and life is short.
Exaggeration is acceptable as long as it is based on the truth.
School bass are less then twenty pounds.
Ten bass caught can be twelve.
Fifteen hits can be 20.
No fish caught or/and no hits can never be one hit or one fish caught.
Never.
The story in that case is - no fish - and that is the story that is needed as it is a gift to others and does not steal their time.
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2.71-8 |
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