Trusting the River

De: Jim Witham

Narrado por: James Witham

Here's a sample from one of the stories in this collection:

"You notice two things when you fish a river solo in a two-man canoe. The first is the lack of conversation. The second is the canoe's insistence on running the river backwards. When you sit on the rear slat, as you do when alone, the stern will swing around to the front, so that you progress downstream bass-ackward. You can fight the stern's inexorable desire to lead by paddling hard left and then hard right. What you can't do is fight the canoe and fish at the same time. Either you lay your rod across your lap and paddle, or stow your paddle and cast, in which case you must accept the inevitable.

On the Cumberland River in southern Kentucky, a tailwater trout fishery, it's unsettling but (probably) not dangerous to keep your back turned to what's coming, at least when the Army Corps of Engineers' computer has prescribed a moderate release through the turbines at Wolf Creek Dam. There are no (well, not many) rocks to slam into, and most (but not all) the deadfalls and drowned tree-trunks are close to either bank."

If you can't get out on the water today, I invite you to come fishing with me.

©2013 James Witham (P)2013 James Witham