I will break a cardinal rule of fishing and tell you about my family’s favorite spot to catch fish. To get there, we walk to the water’s edge under Leaning Bluff, where there is an “island.” You’ll often see children playing in this shallow water because it is shallow enough to walk into but deep enough for children to splash around. You must walk through this knee-high water to get to our spot, avoiding the slippery rocks. As you reach the other side, you’ll notice the land has remained uncleared, so you must search for the opening between the trees with “mud steps” formed over the years by fellow fishermen. From there, we cut across the island, climbing over fallen trees, walking around cactus and thorn bushes, and pushing through grass that, at times, is taller than the shorter members of our fishing party. Once you’ve traversed the island, two trees look like every other tree on the island. Even those who know it by heart must search and decide which ones are the right trees. Then, you’ll climb into the water and set the trotline in chest-deep water. Trot-lining itself is not an easy task. Before the invention of headlamps, you needed a three or four-man crew to set, bait, and check the lines. Don’t forget that live bait is the best bait, so you must spend the daylight hours catching bait. And you can’t just buy it; fish know when the bait isn’t local. After all the work was through, soaking wet, we walked back to cap the way we came again, avoiding thorns and slippery rocks on the way. We start this journey the first night and repeat it in the dark every couple of hours through the night. Interestingly, every year we return, the path has been overgrown, a clear indicator that others have not gone to the extent that we must catch these fish. It is also why they don’t see as much fish as we do. That is the nature of outdoor activities. Whether it be fishing, hunting, hiking, or camping, the best spots are always the hardest to get to. Trial and error, sweat, scrapes, and bruises are all necessary for the experience.

In Mark 1:7, Jesus said, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” For some, the thought of fishing brings to mind lazily walking to the edge of the nearest body of water and sitting silently for hours on end in the middle of the day as fish jump unsuspectingly into your net. For others, especially the successful fishermen, this same imagery brings to mind hours of hard work, refining of skills, and constant moving in the search for the prime locations, often when other would-be fishermen are fast asleep. Fishing for souls is hard, intentional work. You must go where others have not gone, taking a team and braving the uncomfortable nature of potentially awkward conversations. “How then shall they call on Him whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!'” (Romans 10:14–15, NKJV)