Fishing to See
By Jason Houston

I don’t fish to catch fish. I go out when I think there will be fish around. I choose rivers that I think will have fish in them. I do my best to understand the biology and ecology of the hunters and the hunted. And I have been accused of carrying around that silly grin fishermen get after they catch a fish. But I don’t fish to catch fish.

I fish to see things differently. I am a photographer and photography informs everything I do — except fishing. Waist deep in the current, methodically, repeatedly — maybe obsessively — slinging my line and squinting at the passing riffles, I experience the world not as stills, but for the fluid, delicate, ever-changing thing it is.

Fishing is a way of experiencing the incomprehensively complex relationship between fish, water, light and insect — one I appreciate and try to participate in, but don’t feel the need to try and fully understand. Even the best fishermen, really, only luck into catching fish.