"Dreams and Lies…." The Authors Comments To: "You'll Fall In Love With It" Muskie Fishing on Dryberry Lake, Ontario, Canada

A bit ago I put to paper a tale about our summer trip to Lake Dryberry in Canada. I described Dryberry as an "enchantingly beautiful" spot, a Muskie fisherman's paradise. And I added some other superlatives about the lake, the scenery, the size of the Muskies, the Smallmouth Bass, the Lake Trout. I even waxed a bit lyrical about the blueberries that abound everywhere around the lake.

It was not a modest piece.

Various people read it and provided comments. Some of the reactions were exceedingly kind. One gentleman – a long time friend of mine to be sure – called it "an excellent, excellent piece." He said that we needed many more articles like that in our Muskie magazine.

Other folks were not quite so kind. One person in particular described the article as "90% dreams and lies." This fellow went on to say that things like this had no place in the magazine.

Hmmm….

Now I may have to admit to a trifle exaggeration or two here or there. However, most of that occurred in the second part of the story, which had not yet been published when I got the comments. So it puzzles me a bit as to how this gentleman got me pegged so quickly.

ut leave that aside – just consider his phrase "dreams and lies," which I had never heard before. What a wonderfully poetic line! I literally gasped when I read it. And I passed it on to some of my friends, who shared my reaction. One lady in particular even wrote it down so she could share it with others.

And as I've thought more about that line, it's dawned on me that here – finally – we have something that captures the very soul and essence of Muskie fishing. Consider:

Dreams! If you don't dream you have no business fishing for Muskies. The sheer drudgery and pain of the act of fishing become overwhelming. If you're doing all that because you like drudgery and pain, well, you need help.

But if you're out there with the dream that the very next cast will produce the biggest Muskie in the world? And if you sit in your easy chair in mid-winter, glass of Balvenie in hand, staring at the fireplace with the reveries of last year's times on the water floating through your head? And even better, the visions of next year's trip also stirring? The trip when you'll finally get That Fish?

My goodness – if you don't dream, what are you doing?

And then lies. If lying isn't an honorable, established tradition in fishing, then I'm Izaak Walton. I even have it on good authority that Saint Peter questions all anglers who present themselves at the Pearly Gates as to their honesty and purity. And suppose Pete should determine that the angler is indeed an honest one, and has never stretched the truth even slightly in relating his fishing exploits? Why then that poor bloke is immediately banished to the Other Place as an unworthy soul.

Not to say that lying is a universally acceptable act – don't try it on a passport application, for example. But lying, of the proper kind, about fishing? I'm proud to say I do it, and indeed appreciate it enormously in other fishermen. I've even had a story in our Muskie magazine which starts with the line: I'm a liar and they caught me!

A good liar, especially a sparkling fishing liar, is a joy.

So there you have it – I've been accused of being a dreamer and a liar. I take that as a badge of pride and honor. Nothing finer can be said of a fisherman. And if you need any help in either of those pursuits, why, buy me a beer and we can dream and lie to each other to our hearts content.

This response sparked even more controversy