Monday, July 28, 2008

Why Fish NYC?


It certainly is not for the recognition. Most spectators think I’m daft. As I walk around the lake with a rod and reel in hand, I constantly draw the same questions from park goers: “What are you going to do with that stuff?” as if my rod and reel are just as out of place near a city lake as walking around with a pair of skis in hand. I’m going fishing, and not just me. Everyday men and woman alike, from all walks of life, flock to the shorelines of this city’s finest parks in search of what I believe Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, had in mind when they successfully built both Central and Prospect Park.

Escape. Yes, fishing may be a form of escapism. Walk the archways of Olmsted and Vaux, and immediately you are in another world. It is possible in Prospect Park, Brooklyn NY, to enter the Grand Army Plaza entrance, walk for five minutes and find yourself in a setting that has few reminders of the bustling civilization on the outside. Walk to one of Central Park’s lakes and realize that other beings inhabit the space of the city as well, and they swim where they are not supposed to be. Through fishing we can experience the unexpected, we can discover our own treasure and we can return to it, for free, again and again.

No comments: