Are There Fish in Your Fishing Hole?

“I read an article that said there was no business where you are.”
- Brad Burnside

Are There Fish in Your Fishing Hole?

When I was a young boy I loved to fish. I especially liked to go to the high Uinta Mountains, in Utah, and fish for native Cut Throat Trout in the streams and lakes. These fish are called Cut Throat because of the bright red color along their throat. The reason I loved to fish for them was because of their taste and their fight.

There were days when I would leave camp with not much more than my fishing pole, knowing that I would catch fish, build a fire and then enjoy eating fresh fish for lunch and dinner. I can’t remember a time I ever went hungry because my father had taught me the right kind of fly to use in these mountains. I don’t know where he learned what to use, but I knew he was experienced so I took his word for it. As a result, I never wanted for a tug on my line.

When I was about fifteen I had the opportunity to be in the Youth Conservation Corp in these same mountains. There was a lot of work to be done. We maintained hiking trails, banded geese, repaired camp grounds and learned about the ecology of the high country. I thought it was a wonderful summer because I got to fish almost every day.

We lived in a big camp and huge tents. I don’t know how many of us there were, but I’d say we were sort of a teen aged army living in the forest. Of course, we had counselors to act as our guides and teachers so we learned a lot as we lived and worked together.

One of our counselors was from Pennsylvania. He had been hired because he was a fishing expert. He would work with us during the day and then in the evenings and on weekends he would take us out to fish.

I remember our first outing together. I took my fishing gear and began to get it ready at the side of the lake so I could fish. He asked me if I needed help and I told him no!

He looked at the end of my line and then said, “You won’t catch anything with that.”
I just looked up at him and smiled saying, “We’ll see.”

It wasn’t long before he saw that I was the only one in the group catching fish! He couldn’t understand it. Finally when I had caught my limit he came over and asked me what I was using because he had never seen it before.

The next time we went to a town for supplies and to do laundry I watched him slip off to the local fishing store. When we were fishing next he was catching fish! He was smart enough to change the way he did things so he could be successful!

I have been thinking of this because I was driving in the Park City area yesterday and noticed a man fishing at a local pond. I didn’t think much about it when I saw him at a distance, but when I got closer I realized why he had caught my eye. I never saw people fishing at that pond!
The reason I never saw people fishing at that pond is that there are no fish at that pond! Now, I don’t know why he was there for sure. Perhaps he was just practicing his casting. Perhaps he was just practicing his patience! If the latter is correct then he picked the right spot! He would never catch a fish there.

And, sadly these many years after my teen aged years, I learned on a radio program that there are very few places where one can catch Bonneville Cut Throat Trout in these mountains I have called home. They have been replaced by rainbow trout. I can still catch fish, but they don’t taste the same and they don’t fight the same, so fishing isn’t the same for me anymore. But when I fish, I make sure I go to a body of water that has fish.

A friend of mine told me he had been really struggling with his business. He said asked me if an article he had read about business in my area was true. I asked him what it said. He said that there wasn’t any business happening.

I asked him if the person writing the article was from Pennsylvania. Of course he couldn’t know I was thinking of my dear fishing friend of many years ago.

He looked at me in a puzzled way before saying, “I don’t think so.”

“Things change in life all the time and everywhere we look. It will always be so.” I said. “Things are going well for me. Just make sure you use the right bait, fish in a pond with fish, and go to work when the fish are biting!”