I get a pretty serious case of the blues after the end of the Wisconsin trout season. The past few years warm weather has lasted well into October, and late season terrestrial fishing has been epic. So, I end the season in a kind of manic flurry because the fishing is great and the sand is falling through the hourglass. When the end comes, it comes hard, and I’m never ready for it.
Even though I must personally deal with an emotional sag during Wisconsin’s two and a half month closed inland trout season, I have come to see there is some wisdom to be gained in pausing my normal fishing routine.
Aldo Leopold’s concept of voluntary restraint is an idea that has helped me understand these months with more perspective. In Sand County Almanac Leopold writes, “there is value in any experience that exercises those ethical restraints collectively called ‘sportsmanship’.” (on page 168 of my edition)
But what exactly is the value? When I must stop fishing for a bit, it is a reminder that even though I have some sense of ownership (meaning accountability or responsibility) of the streams I care about and the trout that inhabit them, the trout are not there for me, or my entertainment or even my edification. A trout’s life is fiercely focused on living for its own sake.
In the middle of October, we set aside some time to allow wild trout to make their babies in peace, and live their trout lives without us around. It is a holy sabbath of sorts. We exercise a bit of Leopoldian restraint in acknowledgment that the trout’s reproductive task is arduous and pestering them in their bedrooms is bad manners.
Even if all our biologists were convinced that we could safely fish for inland trout year-round, the respect we show to the fish by giving them a couple of months of privacy might continue to be worthwhile as an “ethical restraint” that nurtures our character development as anglers.
The enforced pause in our fishing routine is also a subtle (and for me needed) reminder that there are ultimately more important things than fishing. Somehow life will go on until March, the month I typically pick up a rod again to fish for inland trout.
During the late August to early October frenzy, tasks get put off and relationships get neglected. My ability to live like a responsible adult has never been stellar, and either fishing or thinking about fishing constantly doesn’t improve it.
The other day I was sitting in a coffee clutch of new friends, and I realized something was different. My mind wasn’t preoccupied with recurrent thoughts like, “My time would have been better spent if I ditched these guys and fished a local creek for a few hours.” Or “What day this week can I carve out a few hours to get away to X Creek?”
What I realized is that instead of thinking about these questions, I was simply present in the moment and relishing the company of others like a normal, sane person. Honestly, the trout aren’t the only ones that need a break come October 15. I need one, too.
Editor’s note: Peter Jonas is the partnership specialist for TU’s Driftless Area Restoration Effort. He’s based in Wisconsin and can be reached at peter.jonas@tu.org.