:04:01
He almost always chose a path
along the Big Blackfoot...
:04:04
which we considered our family river.
:04:07
It was there he felt his soul restored
and his imagination stirred.
:04:13
Long ago rain fell on mud
and became rock.
:04:16
Halt a billion years ago.
:04:21
But even before that,
beneath the rocks...
:04:26
are the words of God.
:04:28
Listen.
:04:36
And if Paul and I listened
very carefully all our lives...
:04:41
we might hear those words.
:04:48
Even so, Paul and I received as many
hours of instruction in fly-fishing...
:04:53
as we did
in all other spiritual matters.
:04:57
As a Presbyterian,
my father believed...
:05:00
that man, by nature,
was a damn mess...
:05:03
and that only by picking up
God's rhythms...
:05:05
were we able to regain
power and beauty.
:05:10
To him, all good things, trout as well
as eternal salvation, come by grace.
:05:15
And grace comes by art,
and art does not come easy.
:05:19
Norman.
:05:27
So my brother and I learned to cast
Presbyterian style:
:05:30
on a metronome.
:05:35
He began each session
with the same instruction:
:05:38
Casting is an art that is performed
on a four-count rhythm...
:05:41
between 10:00 and 2:00.
:05:48
If he had had his way, nobody
who did not know how to catch a fish...
:05:52
would be allowed to disgrace a fish
by catching it.