Fishing and Your Health

After 14 years of working too much to fish, I started fishing June 10th, 2009 as therapy for Parkinson's Disease and to recuperate from shoulder surgery. The transformation has been dramatic. Post ideas about fishing and health on the "Fishing in Wichita" blog: fishitah.

As a composer, my therapy also includes turning my fishing experiences into music. I hope my music can be healing for you as well.

Casting for Recovery the sport of fly-fishing is used to promote physical, emotional, and spiritual healing.

Today in America, the pace of life can best be described as “warp speed.” Some might say it's even out of control.... While the human condition thrives on mental stimulation, it also requires relaxation, a state of calm. Balance is the key to life.... It wasn't long ago when ...it was not uncommon to find people out fishing, curled up with a good book, practicing a musical instrument or perhaps sewing or knitting around a fire while telling stories to the children.... Relaxation isn't a science, it's an art. Relaxation is the practice of being calm. It's the practice of staying centered and grounded. Some would contend, it is the art of living in the present moment: To be here now. To be calm, some say, is “to be,” rather than “to do. Here is the article:
The Art of Calm: Relaxation Through the Five Senses, By Brian Luke Seaward, Ph.D.

“Life for some strange reason has suddenly become simple and complete; his wants are few, confusion and uncertainty gone, his happiness and contentment deep.” Read more at: A Staffer Solo by Andrew Weckwerth

Of all the world's enjoyments
That ever valued were,
There's none of our employments
With fishing can compare.
- Thomas Durfee (D'Urfey),
Pills to Purge Melancholy--Massaniello--Fisherman's Song Go to Giga for more relaxing quotes about fishing

We may say of angling as Dr. Boteler said of strawberries: "Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did"; and so, (if I might be judge,) God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling.
- Izaak Walton, The Compleat Angler
(pt. I, ch. V), (second edition)

More Good Years
By Dan Buettner, September & October 2009

Want to live longer—and healthier? GO FISHING. These secrets from a sleepy Greek island could show you the way. Growing and catching food sets a calm pace for island life.

License to Fish

A Cajun was stopped by a game warden in Southern Louisiana recently with two ice chests of fish, leaving a bayou well known for its fishing.

The game warden asked the man, "Do you have a license to catch those fish?"

"Naw, ma fren, I ain't got none of dem, no. Dese here are my pet fish."

"Pet fish?"

"Ya. Avery night I take dese here fish down to de bayou and let dem swim 'round for a while. Den I whistle and dey jump rat back inta dis here ice chest and I take dem home."

"That's a bunch of hooey! Fish can't do that!"

The Cajun looked at the game warden for a moment and then said, "It's de truth ma' fren. I'll show you. It really works."

"Okay, I've GOT to see this!"

The Cajun poured the fish into the bayou and stood and waited.

After several minutes, the game warden turned to him and said, "Well?"

"Well, what?" Said the Cajun.

"When are you going to call them back?"

"Call who back?"

"The FISH!"

"What fish?"