Getting Unstuck #201: Learning About Life and Leadership from a Fly Fishing Guide
“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.
Many people go fishing their whole lives without knowing that it’s not the fish they’re after.”
The Takeaway
Life typically moves along at a fast pace for most of us. By the end of the day, activities we’ve been engaged in are often a murky blur in our rear view mirror. What, then, might be the payoff in slowing down, observing, and reading the environmental water, say, like a fly fisherman? And how do we give ourselves the ability to hold onto and make sense of those moments of pure serendipity?
Jeff (left) and fly fishing guide , leader, teacher, and philosopher, Spencer Seim, on a secluded Colorado trout stream.
Our guest
Spencer Seim (rhymes with “time”) lives a life devoted to fishing and environment issues. Ever since he was 8 years old, Spencer has been obsessed with fly fishing. Spencer has been guiding northern New Mexico and southern Colorado for the last eighteen years. Eight years ago, he founded ZiaFly, a guide service that focuses on a personalized fishing experience with access to some of the best trout fisheries in the Rockies.
“When I open up my fly box, I had a Jock Scott salmon fly fall on the ground. And Kirk was like, “What is that?” I picked it up and handed it to him. and Kirk stared at this thing for about five minutes. He'd never seen anything so ornate before tied onto a hook.
And so as I brought Kirk into my world of classic fly tying, and then knowing he was an author, I told him the story about the break in and about, you know, the whole community and how no one was really wanting to do anything about the case. So for the next several days and nights, Kirk and I were inseparable. And he decided he was going to write a book about it.” — Spencer
Spencer is also very well-versed in fly tying. He’s tied flies commercially, for art, for competitions and of course, for his guided trips. Spencer’s flies have been featured in The Drake magazine, New York Times, Kirk W. Johnson’s book The Feather Thief, and America’s Favorite Flies.
Spencer has been mentioned in This American Life, Smithsonian Magazine, and Outside Magazine.
As you listen
What is it that drew Spencer to the water and fly fishing?
What life lessons can we take away from the fly fisherman’s need to observe and immerse him or herself in the trout’s environment?
How did Spencer get involved in the mystery surrounding the disappearance of almost 300 rare bird skins that could be used to tie salmon flies?
What is the underlying story of The Feather Thief? How does Kirk Johnson’s decision to write the story rest on one of those rare moments of serendipity in life?
How does Spencer distinguish himself as a guide? How does he demonstrate differentiated servant leadership? How does he view guiding as being part of a team?
In our own words
Like any sport, fly fishing has its technical side, but coaching on the fundamentals is only half of a great guide’s focus.
a classic salmon fly: the Black Goldfinch a classic trout fly: the Green Drake Wulff
Connect with Spencer
ZiaFly website
Referenced
Home Waters by John Maclean
A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean
The Element by Sir Ken Robinson
Finding Your Element by Sir Ken Robinson
And by extension
One of the ideas I wanted to press home in this episode was that illumination can come from just about anywhere if we downshift to really see and listen to the environment around us. As Henry David Thoreau wrote, “it’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”
And to really “see,” I think, calls for us to be curious, sometimes insanely curious, about whatever it is we’re looking at. There are three examples of that type of curiosity-inspired thinking in the attached video.
I’m not advocating that we all become scientists and strive to discover “the next big thing” — rather that by slowing down and deliberately attempting to unpack circumstances, events, objects, even people, we may encounter something unexpected and intriguing — often about ourselves.
