Smart Beautiful Fishing

Congratulations to Cyndy Scholz, the winner of our first Smart Beautiful Fishing contest!
She is originally from Northern Virginia, and she moved to Colorado in 1989. Cyndy is a Lead IT Systems Analyst at CenturyLink, and a Ski Instructor at Copper Mountain, with the Over the Hill Gang program. She has been fishing for 2.5 years now, after learning to fish at a Casting for Recovery retreat. She is also a Casting for Recovery volunteer.

Smart Beautiful Fishing
By Cyndy Scholz

So many things about fishing are smart and beautiful – and very special! Here is what it means to me as a beginner angler who has come a long way in 2 years.

1. Number one is the ability to be” in the moment”. Be one with the floating fly/fly line, and a fish that is caught and released back tot he water. To turn off what happened before this moment, and what is happening next in the future. It is all about the “Now”. Very Zen, very beautiful, very smart.

2. Of course, the beautiful fish. No two are alike – species, size, color, shape, markings. The pink line on the rainbows, the orange slit on the cutthroats, the spots on the browns, the coloring and white tipped fins on the brookies. And smart – now I can identify fish type as a beginner angler this past year!

3. Fish live in beautiful places. I have visited many new locations – rivers, creek, streams, lakes, and ponds. Even in my own backyard (literally).  Each has its own beauty and specialness. And smart – I have found places that I didn’t know exist, and now I see places that I knew about (but not about fishing) in a different view.

4. The people (women and men) that I have met since I started fishing 2 years ago. And all because I am a 7.5 year breast cancer survivor who got turned on to fishing through Casting for Recovery. Is it possible to celebrate having breast cancer? I started fishing with women, and I am happy to see more women getting involved with fly-fishing. I have joined 3 other fishing clubs who have opened their doors and arms to me. I have made so many new friends to share this fly fishing passion with. I feel very connected and a part of the fly fishing community!

5. The science education that I am getting – environment, entomology, preservation, conservation, biology, ecology, sustainability. Smart – Sometimes I feel like I am going back to college and getting another degree!

6. Time with my husband, Steve. We both started learning together after I talked him into joining me for an Orvis 101 lesson. It has become a new “thing” for us, as we have success and failures, and we support each other in both!  And smart – we know enough now to go out on our own, together, without others. A date with my husband! We spent our 9th wedding anniversary discovering a reservoir, creek, and ponds that we never knew existed.  Empty and quiet, no people around. We weren’t planning to be there, but ended up there – twice that day. Steve even caught a nice brown trout in one of the ponds. It was a total Carpe Diem (or “Trout Diem”) time, unplanned. A beautiful memory. We want to go back – maybe on our 10th anniversary?

I’m sure that I can come up with more beautiful and smart thoughts about fishing. The best part is the beautiful joy and happiness it has brought to my husband and me. And the education and learning, wow!

Thank you, Cyndy!  – SaraBella Fishing