Perception: Beauty

Today is one of those early Spring days that feels more like winter than anything.  In fact, it's been one of those weeks.  Cold, grey, and wet.  In spite of that (or maybe because of it), it's been a pretty good week for bass fishing.  The Largemouth population in the local ponds is moving towards the shallows as the spawn approaches and I've found them to be quite willing to attack a fly.

I've always looked at bass fishing as a sort of stop-gap measure.  Just cheap thrills, but nothing to take seriously.  After all, I'm a fly fisherman living fifteen minutes from the nearest trout stream.  Why would I waste serious effort on bass?  There's no beauty there (I always thought), just ugly fish in dirty water.  Bass aren't even leader-shy for heaven's sake!  Nothing that dumb can be worth pursuing.

So imagine my surprise this week when I found myself quite consumed with catching bass, and enjoying it thoroughly.  Those vicious underwater takes and violent close-in fights have got me hiking out to the ponds nearly every day, scrambling to find thicker tippet (5x tippet, which I would never consider for a trout stream, is nothing more than spiderweb to these bruisers), and diving into the world of streamers, minnows, and poppers.  

Even more surprising, I have found that there is beauty here too.  The grey skies and brown-green of the ponds contrasts shockingly with the crimson gills of an enraged Largemouth as, rod bent nearly double, I fight to keep him out of the weeds. The Bluegill, too, have their own beauty with their spawning colors splashed across their wide bodies.  The thrill I get from pulling these palettes of color from the chilly water is just as genuine as any I've experienced in the high country.

Natural beauty is always present.  Like good artwork this beauty is presented to the beholder in different mediums; today in the muted greys and chilly greens of Spring, but tomorrow in all the vibrant hues of Summer.  As I get older I'm starting to realize that thinking of one beauty as superior to the other misses the point.  Beauty is meant to be appreciated no matter how the seasons paint it.