"Larry L" wrote

One of those
seven, I had to watch rise half a dozen times myself, from only a few feet
away, before I was certain it was a fish and not just an odd wavelet or
weeds moving the surface, and he was close to 18" !!



I had a chat about this with Bob, a true, full time, trout bum who fishes
the Ranch nearly every day of the season and has done so for many years.
He catches many times the number of fish I do and bigger ones.

I mentioned having to see some fish 'rise' many times before I was convinced
they were fish. His reply was interesting, more interesting now in
reflection than I found it at that time. Paraphrasing, "If you think it
might be a fish, it is. You've got a lots of hours in here and your EYES
see what you need to see, but your brain may not believe them yet. If
something attracts your attention, it's almost certainly a fish otherwise
that attraction wouldn't occur." I replied, " You may be right." And Bob
can back instantly and very firmly, " I AM right, I may be wrong about some
things, but I AM right about this." Bob has a 'strong personality" and I
wrote off the comment to that, at the time, but in retrospect I think his
forceful certainty was an effort to help me make a leap of faith into
believing what I see and turning off the brain's interference to that sight
....

Zen and the Art of Fly Fishing G