Herbert Hoover, Another Fishing President

Man’s life is but vain, for ‘tis subject to pain,
And sorrow, and short as a bubble;
Tis a hodge-podge of business, and money, and care,
And care, and money and trouble
But we’ll take no care when the weather proves fair;
Nor will we vex now though it rain;
We’ll banish all sorrow, and sing till to-morrow,
And angle, and angle again. –Izaak Walton (1653)

I guess things really don’t change; looks like Izaak Walton had it figured out not long after our ancestors had stepped onto this continent. Sure there are going to be days and sure there are troubles that can and do bring us all down…Ah, but then we get to fish!

Herbert Hoover, our 31^st president was also a fan of the above mentioned Izaak Walton…in fact Hoover might well have been at the top of the list for fishing presidents. Hoover was known for many fishing quotes as well as a book on fishing. He once said that, “All men are equal before fish”. If you take a moment and think on it…the fish we pursue…they really don’t care if you are a prince or pauper; they judge you by your ability to present a lure (or fly in my case) to a point that they themselves are fooled and taken completely by the color, size and presentation.

For the younger in our crowd (and that probably takes in about 95% of those of you reading this column) President Hoover is not well known. If you do know much about him it is probably a negative associated with the great recession that occurred late in 1929 and moving forward for the better part of the next decade. History judges pretty harshly and in Hoover’s case he might have just been atop the throne at the wrong time.

Herbert Hoover, a republican from West Branch, Iowa was born August 10 of 1874 to Quaker parents. He was a middle child and one of three kids raised by pretty simple parents who made the most of anything they came across. His nickname would be Bertie and at the age of 2 ½ he almost died…in fact his parents had already put dimes upon his eyelids when the country doctor arrived and noticed that there was a still a little life left; he preceded to save young Bertie’s life whereby his grandma deemed it a miracle telling all that something great must be ahead for the young lad.

It was in Iowa that a young Herbert Hoover learned to fish for just about anything that could be caught…he became proficient at fishing and it became a true solace to him for all of his 90 years of life. “Next to prayer, fishing is the most personal relationship of man”, this quote attributed to Hoover during his presidency must have been very practical for I can only imagine that trying to right the ship of poverty that the nation was in during the final two years in office would have driven most men to drink…in Hoover’s case it drove him to pray and fish a lot. Others would do themselves well to adopt his pattern and reach out to God and a few smallmouth bass…as they both can be quite comforting.

Hoover, who was commonly referred to as the Great Humanitarian had one of his best fishing trips ever-interrupted in early 1946. He was fishing for ‘bones’ (bonefish) in the Miami area when he received a call from the Secretary of Agriculture who asked Hoover to accept the chairmanship of the Famine Emergency Committee. He had just recently caught a large 10 pound bonefish but told his friends that the ‘bones’ would have to wait, he was needed in rounding up food for a hungry world. That was the kind of person that Hoover was and his public service lasted for over seven decades as he worked to make the world a better place.

Funny how some of our best leaders found their comfort, their silence in fishing; you too can do so this year…the big melt isn’t too far around the corner. Grab your gear and get going…find your way into nature and Enjoy the Great Outdoors.