Fish Songs

Last week as I was making my daily slog down 101 to San Jose I began surfing the radio channels. I had gotten bored with NPR, how much news and commentary can any one-person handle? I ran through the usual rock stations, country, easy listening, and classical none of which fit the traffic I had gotten into.

I realized that throughout my radio wandering I had not heard any fish songs. I had heard rap and hip-hop with their anger, sex, and street justice; rock with its hard edge and unintelligible lyrics; easy listening with its assortment of love songs (there must be a zillion songs about love, abusive love, puppy love, gentle love, rough love, eternal love, etc.), and the classical station that almost put me to sleep. But no fish songs. I had hoped that the country stations might have something. It was the closest, but I only got trucks, cheating spouses, and songs of self-pity when I listened.

I don't mean fish singing, I doubt that they do. I mean songs about fish and fishing in general. No, "Three Little Fishes" does not qualify. I mean songs that tell the beauty of our sport, the experiences that drive us to ply the waters with feather and fur in search of our finny quarry, and the beauty of the country takes us away from the city. The environment is cleaner. The waters are purer. Why not sing of that. John Denver did have some songs that spoke of the country, but none had fishing in them.

There are few songs about sports in general. Outside of baseball, sports do not generally associate themselves with song. Football does have its cheers but that is used to exalt your team to victory. You can cheer for Illinois football, my alma mater, as much as you like, it still doesn't seem to help. I have never heard a song about cross-country. Crew does have its "Row, Row, Row your boat gently down the stream". Auto racing by itself doesn't unless you count car songs (of which there are many) or chases involving moonshine whisky down the back roads of some Southern state. Basketball is just too fast. Bowling, forget it.

Why not sing of the perfect cast, the cast that unloads at just the right moment and gently places the fly in exactly the location you want. Sing of the mend that expertly drifts the fly you tied directly over the largest trout in the river as if you did it every day. Sing of the sipping trout that captures its prey like a debutant gracefully sipping hot tea. Sing of the take, the fight, the release. Sing of the fellowship of the day and the stories around the campfire. Sing of the cool mornings with the air so fresh it puts joy into your lungs. Sing of the musical lyrics of the water as it rushes past late for journey to the sea. Listen, isn't that a lark singing in the meadow. Some days the songs are of missed chances. Some days the songs are of triumphs. Whatever, the songs we sing are our songs. They celebrate life and the search for fish.

Sing of the pure joy of fishing. Sing of our sport.

– George Conway