24 IDAHO FALLS MAGAZINE APRIL 2019
Lookout: The Editor Speaks by Kris Millgate
The banks are grassy. The water, clear. Same as home, but it's sheep I hear instead
of cows. I can almost fool myself into thinking I'm fishing Idaho's Henry's Fork. Almost.
There are no trees. Iceland is bare of branches. That's different. My home water has trees.
Without trees, fishing floats on the verge of creepy. Creepy quiet. It's so quiet without leaves
moving, you hear your ears ring and your heart beat. Mine's beating fast. I've come halfway
around the world to catch a fish I've never touched in Idaho. Salmon. The Atlantic kind.
The contrast of countryscape between Idaho and Iceland intrigues me nearly as much as
the life on my line. A 25-inch salmon that doesn't want to see me, but I'll see it before its
free of my fly. Tears of surprise wet my eyes while I wet my hands, hold fin for a heartbeat
then let it go.
Keeping my once-in-a-lifetime fish, my first salmon or 'virgin fish' as Icelanders call it, is
out of the question. The foreign river I'm fishing is catch and release to help salmon runs
return from centuries of catch, keep and eat. Iceland's island conservation is slowly bring-
ing the ocean swimmer back.
Conservation in Idaho does the same thing. Our rare resources are rebounding. Some
of them are in this spring issue. See curlews reveal their camo-colored existence, touch
bumblebees and smell May flowers. This summer, I challenge you to raise your resource
awareness. See, smell, touch, taste and hear what Idaho's outdoors have to offer.
Here's to holding life on the line.
IF
Traveling halfway around the world for a fish
PHOTO COURTESY TIGHT LINE MEDIA
PHOTO COURTESY GUNNLAUGUR GUDLEIFSSON
