At first glance, Arnie Sabatelli's new book, “Two Thirds Water: Essays on the Fly-Fishing Life,” may sound like a book for anglers.
But it's about much more than fishing. The essays explore memory, observation and lessons we learn along the way.
Sabatelli lives in Connecticut and has taught writing and literature at the college and high school levels. His essays, poetry and fiction have appeared in a wide range of literary journals and magazines.
At Sandy Point in West Haven, a popular spot for shore fishing that Sabatelli knows well, he talked about what a lifetime of fly fishing — and writing about it — has taught him.
Interview highlights
On what fishing offers beyond catching fish
When I first started fly fishing in graduate school, I came around the corner on the Westfield River … in western Massachusetts, and I saw a guy fly fishing, and something about it just seemed different, and it just captured me. It was kind of so artful in the way his line moved in the air, and it just seemed like there was more going on. Spiritual is kind of a big word, but it always felt like there was more going on whenever I did it.
When I was out fishing, it's been sort of a way for me to heal at times, and bad things have happened in my life. But I think whenever I'm fishing, I'm not just out there catching fish. I think it's kind of a meditative, healing, contemplative pursuit for me.
On learning to see – and pay attention
You have to look so carefully, which I think is really good training for writing. Because you're just paying close attention, I think, is really what writing is about. Really noticing the things ... I'm stealing this from Hemingway, I think. But noticing the things that give you the emotion. And not trying to give the emotion, but giving the concrete details.
And when you're fishing — especially when you're fly fishing — the concrete details are so abundant and so necessary. You know, they're crucial. Like, if you didn't notice that, you're not going to catch a fish. So there's this kind of urgency to your noticing, which I don't think you have normally in your life. When you just sort of coast along, you don't really look at things the way you have to look at things when you're standing here looking at the water and trying to figure out how to solve the puzzle of what's happening.
On the connection between fishing and writing
The first real fly-fishing piece I wrote was called “Voices,” which I got published in “Fly Fisherman” magazine. And that was about how every place I fish has its own voice, which I thought was a shared thing with writing. So, I think from the outset, when I started writing about fly fishing, I was always using it as a vessel to think about other things, about writing, about friendship, about observation. So, I've always seen it that way.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
