This week's Sunday Short is a suggestion of a friend of ours, Jim. He has been enjoying these and sent in a few suggestions. While we originally had something different planned for today we decided we wanted to share this one instead. It is entitled "Testament of a Fisherman" with the words from that famous essay being narrated over some gorgeous shots of waters near the author's home in Michigan. Sit back and enjoy.
Testify is a visual poem adapted from the essay "Testament of a Fisherman" published in 1964 by Michigan author John Voelker.
Over 50 years later we filmed this video on and around the author's home waters of Marquette County on Michigan's Upper Peninsula because we believe the pure trout waters and relaxed pace of life of this region haven't changed much.
Today the need for time on a river and reconnection with nature are more important than ever--and Voelker's words still ring true.
Produced by: www.aaronpeterson.net
Music: "Rise" by Tony Anderson
Special thanks to Captain Brad Petzke of Rivers North Fly Fishing, Nick and Mike VanCourt, and Joel Lantz.
Voelker's works adapted with permission from his family and Kitchie Hill, Inc.
Let us know why you fish in the comments below. Also feel free to suggest a video you really enjoy related to any aspect of fly fishing. Who knows, maybe it will be next week's Sunday Short. Tight lines.
Here is the entire essay in written form for those of you haven't already read it:
I fish because I love to;
Because I love the environs where trout are found, which are invariably beautiful, and hate the environs where crowds of people are found, which are invariably ugly;
Because of all the television commercials, cocktail parties, and assorted social posturing I thus escape;
Because, in a world where most men seem to spend their lives doing things they hate, my fishing is at once an endless source of delight and an act of small rebellion;
Because trout do not lie or cheat and cannot be bought or bribed or impressed by power, but respond only to quietude and humility and endless patience;
Because I suspect that men are going along this way for the last time, and I for one don’t want to waste the trip; because mercifully there are no telephones on trout waters;
Because only in the woods can I find solitude without loneliness;
Because bourbon out of an old tin cup always tastes better out there;
Because maybe one day I will catch a mermaid;
And, finally, not because I regard fishing as being so terribly important but because I suspect that so many of the other concerns of men are equally unimportant – and not nearly so much fun.
