When it comes to people and fishing, I have a simple rule: if you are both passionate about fishing and care about preserving our shared natural resources, I want to spend time with you. No matter your experience level or skill. No matter your age or race. And no matter your gender. It’s that simple.
If we share a passion for fly fishing, I’m willing to bet we share a lot more than just a passion for fly fishing. This is something I’ve come to learn: fly fishing is either often the opening act of a conservation, which reveals many shared interests — travel, history, conservation, craftsmanship, music, etc. — or it comes at the end, after you’ve explored these areas only to find you share a passion for the sport and probably should have started there.
I’ve been fortunate to fish with people from all walks of life. I fished with the CEO of one of the world’s largest food companies for a week. And I fished with a janitor from rural Maine — so often he became known to me as “Uncle Bob” growing up. If my memory serves, they were in camp together for a week. The fishing was an equalizing, democratic force. This is, I think, one of the great things about our sport.
And yet, women have for too long not been welcomed at the same fishing tables as men. It took me a long time to realize this — too long, perhaps — because I grew up fishing with women. Some of my earliest memories are of fishing with a woman named Lynn. I caught my first trout at Lee and Joan Wulff’s place. We often fished with a couple, Ross and Mac, who fished equally. Another close friend, George, was often out fished by his wife Charlotte, which bugged him to no end. In Norway, I fished with a woman named Margitte. In my experience, women fished as much as men, and often more effectively.
Which is why I never understood why certain clubs didn’t allow them as members. Or why they were so often absent from catalogs, let alone my local rivers.
In reading Janet Messineo’s autobiography, she relates firsthand experiences of just how truly unwelcoming some of the “old male guard” (my phrase) were to her, and how hard she had to work to get their respect. Messineo’s book doesn’t dwell unnecessarily on these stories. Instead, through a detailed account of her fishing and non-fishing life, her story is one of passion, of grit, and resilience. It is also a story of the Vineyard.
Messineo first came to the Vineyard in 1966, and in the years since has become an icon of the sport on the island. She recounts her early, humbling fishing attempts with candor and good humor. Unrelenting, she recounts how she not only learned the sport but earned the respect of many. There are stories of long nights casting into the surf, and of true adventures exploring the island. Messineo juggled work and relationships, but one thread is constant: a blazing passion for fishing. In reading her accounts of her commitment to fishing, I found myself at various times shaking my head, laughing, and smiling.
For those who fish or know the Martha’s Vineyard Derby, Messineo has been involved or on the board for decades. She recounts the history of the Derby itself, including some of its interesting origins, as well as stories of big fish that have won and lost. Through these stories, she can either deepens one’s love for the Derby, or provide a compelling introduction to it — either way, you feel as though you are getting a rare sneak-peak behind the curtain into the Derby.
She also vividly recounts stories of famous and familiar places, from Chappaquiddick and Aquinnah, to Coop’s Bait Tackle. For those who have been there and fished it, the stories bring images vividly back to life in the winter months, and for those who haven’t, they paint a picture of the best the island has (or had) to offer.
Janet’s writing is at times simple and straight forward, and at others powerful and evocative. The thing I liked about reading her writing was the sense that you have that it is her voice, not her editors. It reads as authentic and true.
I found the book inspiring — to have that level of commitment to something, to pursue it with such energy, despite all of life’s setbacks, is truly remarkable. I also found it humbling — she has more grit, and more determination, than I ever have for casting deep into the night.
Either way, Janet Messineo is a pioneer, a true original, and a Martha’s Vineyard icon. We are not only luck to have her, but to have her book.
Casting into the Light: Tales of a fishing life
By Janet Messineo
Publicaton: July, 2019 by Pantheon books
219 pages
Hardcover: $17.49
