GONE
FISHIN’
From Linda Lee Greene
Author/Artist
My
brother David carved a slow pathway in life. It was slow, but deep, and as
close to Zen-like as any I have known. In his solitude, often he fished; and he fished well. For many
years, he fished at bass tournaments in and around his Florida home—and he won
some of them. “Bass fishing is an art,” he would say to anyone he could corner
to engage in conversation. “You can have all the best gear, but if you don’t
know your fish, then you won’t catch him. Bass, he doesn’t have any brain to
speak of, but his instincts are sharp as a tack. And his body is made to work
with his instincts. He’s got eyes on the sides of his head, and they can see
all around. So just any flutter in his vicinity, and he’s gonna see it. It’s
hard to fool him. And he’s got a built-in antenna that runs down the sides of
his body, and that thing is sensitive to the slightest changes in the
temperature. He knows the weather forecast better than Jim Cantore and way
before Cantore knows it. So, a good fisherman’s got to study the weather, too.
Bass, he likes overcast mornings to come out of his hiding places, but he doesn’t
swim too far from them. So you gotta look for a bunch of rocks or a fallen log
in the water or tall weeds, and that’s where you’ll find him hangin’ around.”
In the eulogy I wrote for my brother, I
likened him to an old African proverb that says, “When a man dies, a library
dies with him.” That describes my brother to a tee. He studied every subject
that interested him until he mastered it. Today marks the seventh year since
David passed away. I hope he’s gone fishin’ up there, or wherever he fishes
these days. ©
***
My
brother is among the cast of characters in my novel, GUARDIANS AND OTHER
ANGELS. It is also dedicated to him. If you would like to read it, just click
the URL below and it will take you to its purchase page on Amazon.
Purchase
URL: http://goo.gl/imUwKO
#fishing,
#bass, #bass fishing, #BassTournaments, #largemouth bass, #striped bass, #Zen,
#ZenBuddhism, #GuardiansandOtherAngels, #LindaLeeGreene
