Absent+MM

Absent Without Leave Described by Matt McGrath

In this piece, McPhee talks entirely about Shad fishing and the methods, and equipment used to “hook” shad. The majority of the piece takes place in a river that has extremely strong currents, that many people do not dare fish in anymore. A lot of the remaining fishers have lots of experience and love the extra danger the river produces.

The piece is littered with journal entries describing either the shad that he caught, or the ones that simply got away. Reading the language that is used is almost like cracking a code in a sense. A terrible feeling for a shad fisher, as McPhee describes, is when you hook a fish but it gets away. When this happens, there is a type of self evaluation that takes place that goes through a list as to why the fish got away.

“You may have put on too much pressure. You may have used too little pressure. You don’t know. All you know is that the line is slack, the fish gone.”

McPhee talks about the hooks that are used to attract these fish, and the home made process that they go through to be personalized. Many of these hooks have different jobs, and when you find the right type you generally stick to it.

There is some talk about people who have incredible stories in regards to shad fishing and the extreme lengths people will go to, to get catch the fish. He also talks about personal experiences, notably the ones where he mistakenly caught eels instead of fish.

McPhee somehow intrigued me to read this whole article, even though I really do not have that much interest in fishing at all. It goes to show that it doesn’t really matter what you are talking about, it is about how you can relay the information and keep in interesting.