DYLAN MORSE
Ithaca, N.Y.
I kept a firm gripon the rainbow trout as I removed the lure from its lip. Then, my heart racingwith excitement, I lowered the fish to the water and watched it flash away.
I remained hooked.
I caught that 10-inch fryling five years ago on Fall Creek using a $5 fly rod given to me by my neighbor Gil. The creek is spectacular as it cascades down the 150-foot dropof Ithaca Falls. Only 100-feet further, however, it runs past a decrepit gun factory and underneath a graffitied bridge before flowing adjacent to my high school and out to Cayuga Lake. Aside from the falls, the creek is largely overlooked. Nearly all of the high school students I know who cross that bridge daily do so with no thought of the creek below.
When I was a toddler, my moms say I used to point and ask, “What? What? What?” Even now my inquisitive nature is obvious. Unlike my friends, I had noticed people fly fishing in Fall Creek. Mesmerized by their graceful casts, I pestered Gilinto teaching me. From that first thrilling encounter with a trout, I knew I needed to catch more. I had a new string of questions. I wanted to understand trout behavior, how to find them, and what they ate. There was research to do.
I devoted myself to fly fishing. I asked questions. I woke up at 4 a.m. to fish before school. I spent days not catching anything. Yet, I persisted. The Kid’s Book ofFishing was replaced by Norman MacLean’s A River Runs ThroughIt. Soon Ernest Hemingway’s essays found their place next to Trout Unlimited magazines by my bed.
I sought teachers. I continued to fish with Gil, and at his invitation joined the local Trout Unlimited Chapter. I enrolled in a fly-tying class.
There I met Ken, a soft-spoken molecular biologist, who taught me to start each fly I make bycrimping the hook to reduce harm to fish, and Mike, a sarcastic Dead head lawyer, who turns over rocks at all times of year to “match the hatch” and figure out which insects fish are eating. Thanks to my mentors, I can identify and create almost every type of Northeastern may fly, caddisfly, and stonefly.
The more I learned, the more protective I felt of the creek and its inhabitants. My knowledge of may flies and experience fishing in many New York streams led me to notice the lack of Blue-Winged Olive Mayflies in Fall Creek. I figured out why while discussing water quality in my AP Biology class; lead from the gunfactory had contaminated the creek and ruined the mayfly habitat. Now, I participate in stream clean-up days, have documented the impact of invasivespecies on trout and other native fish, and have chosen to continue to explorethe effects of pollutants on waterways in my AP Environmental Science class.
Last year, on afrigid October morning, I started a conversation with the man fishing next tome. Banks, I later learned, is a contemporary artist who nearly died struggling with a heroin addiction. When we meet on the creek these days we talk about casting techniques, aquatic insects, and fishing ethics. We also talk about the healing power of fly fishing. I know Banks would agree with Henry David Thoreau, who wrote “[Many men] lay so much stress on the fish which they catchor fail to catch, and on nothing else, as if there were nothing else to becaught.”
Initially, my goal was to catch trout. What I landed was a passion. Thanks to that first morning on Fall Creek, I’ve found a calling that consumes my free time, compels me to teach fly fishing to others, and drives what I want to study in college.
I will beleaving Fall Creek soon. I am eager to step into new streams.
译文参考
DYLAN MORSE
Ithaca, N.Y.
我将诱饵从虹鳟鱼嘴上取下来，紧紧地抓住了它。然后，我的心激动得砰砰直跳，我将鳟鱼放入水中，看着它像闪电一样游走。
我依然感到着迷。
我五年前在秋日溪谷用我邻居吉尔给我的一根5美元的飞杆捕捉到了那个10英寸的小鳟鱼。小溪非常壮观，沿着150英尺高的伊萨卡瀑布瀑布流下。然而，只有100英尺远，它经过一个破旧的枪工厂，在一座灰色的桥下，然后在我的高中附近流到卡尤加湖。除了瀑布被注意到以外，小溪很大程度上被忽视了。几乎所有我认识的高中生每天都会跨过那座桥，却不知道底下的溪谷。
我妈妈说，当我还小的时候，我经常指着东西问，“这是什么？”即使现在，我好问的性格也十分明显。不像我的朋友们，我注意到人们会在秋日溪谷进行飞绳钓。我为他们优雅的招式深深着迷，于是我缠着基尔教我。从第一次与鳟鱼令人战栗的相遇气，我知道我需要去抓到更多。我有了更多的问题，我想要了解鳟鱼的行为，如何找到它们，以及它们的食物。而了解这一切需要研究。
自此之后，我献身于飞绳钓。我提出问题，早上四点起床，在学校开始前完成垂钓。有些天数我什么都钓不到，但我依旧坚持。《给小朋友的钓鱼书》被Norman MacLean写的《河流通过之处》所取代。不久之后，海明威的文章和《源源不尽的鳟鱼》一起被放在了我的床头。
我找到老师们，我继续和基尔一起垂钓，在他的邀请下加入了当地的《源源不断的鳟鱼》杂志章节，我加入了飞绳钓班级。
我在那里遇见了肯，他是一个讲话温和的分子生物学家，他教我卷曲钓钩来减少对鱼的伤害。我还认识了迈克，他是个挖苦的律师，他每年会翻开每块石头观察诱饵，然后考虑鱼儿会吃哪种昆虫。在这些人生导师的帮助下，我可以辨别，并自己创造出各种各样的诱饵，比如说东北蜉蝣，毛翅蝇，石蝇。
随着我的学识渐长，我对小溪及其居民的有了更多的保护。我对梅蝇的了解和在纽约许多溪流捕鱼的经历让我注意到秋日溪谷中缺少蓝翅橄榄梅蝇。我在AP生物课上讨论水质时想出了原因; 来自枪厂的铅污染了小溪并破坏了梅蝇的栖息地。现在，我参与了溪流清理日，记录了入侵物种对鳟鱼和其他本地鱼类的影响，并选择在我的AP环境科学课程中继续探索污染物对水道的影响。
去年，在一个寒冷的十月早晨，我开始与我旁边钓鱼的人交谈。他叫做班克斯，我后来了解到，班克斯是一位当代艺术家，他几乎因*洛因海**成瘾失去生命。这些天我们在小溪上相遇时，我们谈论了抛竿技术，水生昆虫和捕鱼伦理。我们还谈到了飞绳钓治愈心灵的能力。我知道班克斯会同意亨利大卫梭罗的观点，他写道：“[许多人]对能不能钓到鱼这件事上寄托了太大压力，仿佛钓鱼不会带来其他收获。”
最初，我的目标只是钓到鳟鱼，让我开始钓鱼的是一种激情。感谢秋日溪谷的第一个早晨召唤我利用我的空闲时间，让我教给别人飞绳钓，并且让我明白了想在大学深入学习的方向。
不久之后我就会离开秋日溪谷，踏入新的激流。