By Ethan Hollifield
How do you become a good angler? Or really, how do you become good at anything? Our perceptions and ideas of what it means to be a good angler can come in many forms. More often than not, we associate those who catch the most fish, or the biggest fish, or win the most tournaments as those who are the best in their field. This does have merit, as it takes a certain degree of skill to win something like a bass tournament or a fly-fishing competition. I’ve learned a great deal myself from some accomplished anglers in both of those pursuits, and there was one common denominator between all of them that has influenced my fishing and guiding career more than anything. They were all quiet in both their practice and their pursuit.
Isaac Walton coined the line “Study to be quiet” in The Complete Angler, and ever since having read that, I cannot contemplate a more appropriate phrase to describe, well, “a complete angler.” The best anglers I have had the privilege of learning from and fishing with were all students themselves as they were teaching me. They didn’t seek praise through shallow attention on social media or aspiring to be sponsored by every rod and lure company on the market, but rather would spend hours themselves in quiet study and reflection. I was taught by men like my great grandfather who told me, “Trout are learned about more in afterthought than in the present.”
Being a good angler means being a good student. The beauty about the sport is that you are in a perpetual state of learning regardless of your skill level. The best anglers and guides I have ever met have spent hours watching fish, studying water, and reading through old maps and journals before even beginning to make a cast. Many of their names are not famous, nor do they have any real desire to be. The people who taught me how to fish have a shared desire to learn, and because of that, they are and always will be the best in my mind.
Fishing is the most humbling of pursuits that I think a person can ever engage in, which is why I believe the appeal of it has haunted me for my entire life. More often than not, I’m reminded by nature, after losing to either a trophy fish or the elements, that I myself still have much to learn, and I’m thankful for those lessons and the people who were willing and patient enough to teach me. To those who did and continue to do so, I thank you. To other anglers reading this: rather than aspiring to be the “best” fisherman, take the time to sit. Take time to reflect on past experiences in the outdoors, and learn to listen to those who are wiser than you are when it comes to the pursuit of what I believe we all want to obtain when we’re in the outdoors: a genuine sense of peace and freedom.
Ethan Hollifield is an Environmental/Physical Science Teacher and is also a guide for Southern Appalachian Anglers.