Some lazy fishing | Alan Liere

In an essay titled “Some lazy fishing,” Alan Liere describes how, despite loving fly fishing, he sometimes switches to bait fishing as a way to slow down and reconnect with simpler habits. He portrays bait fishing as “lazy fishing,” emphasizing that it requires minimal gadgets and allows him to rest with the rod set up rather than actively performing techniques like drifting or double-hauls. Liere argues that time feels too short to do nothing in life, yet considers this kind of idling on the water as productive.

He recounts early influences and compares his approach to childhood fishing, when he used worms, crawdads, grasshoppers, and even dough baits. A key anecdote follows a lazy catfishing trip on Lake Bryan, a Washington state impoundment created by Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River. Traveling with a 12-foot aluminum boat powered by oars and a springer spaniel named Ami, he describes waking on Saturday to find the boat gone due to rising water fluctuations. He then swims after it in cold conditions, noting his lack of running and difficulty in the water before the narrative cuts off mid-sentence.