Adam Trahan: Fishing

That’s me, fishing tenkara in Japan with friends

Fishing is something I’ve done my whole life. My Grandfather taught me and he really didn’t like to fish himself but he knew a young boy should know how. I love the mountains and the sea so that’s really where I find myself the most.

My mom gave me a Macintosh (Apple) computer and I used it to create fishing web sites early on in the timeline of the internet. I made sites on my interests, Smallstreams.com, Grassart.net, Tenkara-Fisher.com, and Beach-Fisher. Some of them became popular. I felt that these sites filled a need for me to contribute as I was learning these disciplines myself.

Tenkara-Fisher was my favorite. I put a lot of time into it with a focus on not putting any spin on tenkara by remaining true to it. I actually was able to reach deep inside the tenkara community in Japan meeting many of the experts there. I was asked to help disseminate the history and help it grow outside of Japan. A gentleman there asked me to help him reach fishermen outside of Japan and I helped him to supply the world with Tenkara equipment while I worked with a friend who had popularized it to the point where it was steadily growing.

But by the design of the very medium I was working in, people claimed to be experts who had never been to Japan. They gave talks teaching people about tenkara and they became quite popular. I felt disenfranchised so I decided to stop producing content. It was wasting my time and causing me far too much frustration. Walking away from it was a good move as I could finally see that the time and effort I had put into it was completely worth it. Now I’m free to enjoy my time on the water without any expectations except to enjoy my fishing.

I’m grateful for my friends, the lessons and the examples of my labor are still there for review minus the disappointment. I did a great job and now I’m free from the labor of it.

Now fishing is something I do with a couple of friends and sometimes alone. I continue with my fishing photography with a few photographs to give my friends when we get back. I love fishing but it is back to where it should be, wasting time in a beautiful place, relaxing and enjoying my time alone and with friends, privately.