Stephen Sautner: Every. Cast., Gebunden

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They are out there, right now, fishing among us, casting in plain view. You may have waded downstream of one just yesterday or walked past another at a boat launch or back bay last week. At first glance, they appear normal. Most are middle-aged or approaching it, with some older and a few younger. All have faces furrowed from hard miles spent in sun and wind, or from sleepless nights chasing a late tide or an after-dark spinner fall. True, some of them may appear a bit disheveled, almost like they've been drinking, yet they cast soberly with a clarity of purpose. Some smoke-either tobacco, or nowadays weed-and a blueish haze sometimes surrounds them mid-stream. Still others resemble wiry athletes, wolfing down energy bars and guzzling water-whatever it takes for maximum performance on the water.

Things start to get weird when you approach them at an angler's access parking lot or along a fishing trail and ask a casual "Anything happening?" Initially, they may grunt a one-word answer or ignore you altogether. But ask another leading question, something like "Is it me, or do Hendricksons seem off this year?" or "You think yellow is the best color for stripers?" and the dam bursts. What inevitably follows is a series of rapid-fire opinions about bugs, baitfish, wind direction, barometric pressure, cubic feet per second, tides, or rod tapers. Try to steer the conversation into other related topics, say wildlife sightings or wildflowers along the stream, and they will stare at you blankly. Ask the same questions streamside or along an oceanfront when fish are active and they become twitchy, unable to complete sentences as they look through you to study the water.

These are the fish-junkies-angling's version of meth heads. They are forever chasing the dopamine jolt that comes from the perfect cast, the perfect rise, the perfect release. The perfect . . .

Stephen Sautner knows, because he is one of them.