“A man without aim is like a clock without hands, as useless if it turns as if it stands.”
That was the quote printed on the little piece of paper that was nestled inside of the fortune cookie that I had just cracked open. Usually they’re a little shorter, and more light-hearted than this, but I felt that this one had a good message. I placed it on the inside of my locker door at work. I figured it was a good reminder on a 5-day a week basis, and that I would find more depth behind the quote over time, and I did…
After two seasons of focusing on increasing my catch rate while fishing with a tenkara rod, I came to a realization about a change that had occurred in that time. I was enjoying fishing in a different way. My push for higher numbers of fish caught led me to a shift from the thought of how many fish I thought I was going to catch to a mindset that approached it from the point of an open mind, willing to solve the ever-changing puzzle of fishing.
My experiment ended in October, but I still published posts leading into mid-December. Since I’ve been away from posting, I’ve taken a step back from fishing with a tenkara rod, and had some time to reflect on things. With that, there are some changes that I would like to make in my own approach to fishing.
I will admit that at the end of October, I felt maybe a little “lost” in the sense that I didn’t have an idea of what I wanted to do next with fishing. I had a goal that stretched over two seasons, and with that completed, there wasn’t something in mind as to a way to challenge myself.
The one thing that came to mind was to “enjoy fishing.” Without the focus on the catch rate, maybe it would be worth it to really take my time and fish in different ways - challenge myself to try new waters, or chase different species. Building on that, maybe focus more on different techniques that I’m not as familiar with.
This idea was resonating more and more with me. I was enjoying the concept of not having to focus on my numbers, and a bunch of ideas started working their way into how I could “enjoy” fishing.
Seeing the fortune multiple times a day brought me to another conclusion about this new goal. Would it be enough to just “enjoy” fishing? Maybe it would, but having little goals or ideas of what I wanted to work on while fishing would help bring “aim” to my fishing sessions. I started writing down ideas of what I could focus on for different sessions. Some of them are fairly light, and I assume will be accomplished quickly - like “catch a fish on a futsu”. Others are a little more detailed, or focus more on a certain skill rather than an occurrence. One group of these ideas is to focus on bettering some of my presentations - I’ve never been great at an upstream sasoi.
A few of the goals are focused more on trying to catch different species. I’ve already had the opportunity to find a Lahontan Cutthroat Trout in my net, but I would like to revisit a few areas in hopes to catch (and release) a few more. I would also like to find more areas close to me where I have the opportunity to chase brook trout.
I guess, all this is to say, I have found goals with my tenkara fishing moving forward - at least for the foreseeable future. Even though these are all ideas that can be knocked out in a session or two, I plan to focus my time on each individual idea. Maybe it will slow my fishing down in a way, but all the same, I believe it will make me a more well-rounded angler and increase my knowledge and understanding of tenkara.