Talking to Myself

The only time I talk to myself is when I'm standing in a river. I talk to myself a lot when I'm in a river. I could say I'm talking to the fish, but that would make me sound crazy. More often than not I talk about where the fish might be and what they might be eating. I talk out loud; just in case the fish are listening, although I don't expect them to answer.

On Saturday I was standing in the middle of a pool casting upstream into a promising slot that carried a clean bubble line on the surface. I narrated as the strike indicator drifted back to me: "There's a fish right there." The indicator paused, the rod was lifted and the fight was on. Of course, such narration rarely works. But for once I didn't feel nearly so silly about talking to myself.