What would stripers think about if they thought like us?
Meeting God
They jostled for position in the small rip that formed beside the jetty. They watched for those waves that would tumble the baitfish that they had been feeding on throughout the tide. A big cow bass swam among them, checked the small baitfish, and then sank to the rocks along the bottom to grub on crabs. She had tasted the “poison” several times in her life and escaped. She knew that this was a bad place and had the scars to prove it.

A wave broke on the front of the jetty sweeping its foamy froth along the side tumbling several of the baitfish. As if on a cue several of them charged forward, inhaled the hapless bait, and returned to their position in the rip.

They had fed rather carefree through the night although a few talked of being careful of the “poison.” Just one, a smaller one about three pounds, had talked of “meeting God.” As the tide continued to ebb, the waves began to break more often and the activity began to increase. It was still about an hour before the light and they made the most of the opportunity.

Then a sleek six pounder saw it: a helpless fat baitfish twitching enticingly on the surface. A dash and a then a thrashing as he struggled, was pulled along the surface toward the jetty, and then he was gone. “The poison!” they said as they scurried away toward the front of the jetty and the rocks scattered along the bottom.

A short time later, a splash, and the six pounder was back with a pierced lower jaw. He was weak but elated. “I have met God!” He then related how he struggled against the “poison,” against the pain and pressure, but he endured. How he slammed against the rocks and finally he was lifted into that “other world.” “I was near death!” he exclaimed with bravado. “Then there was a bright light!” He was drawn toward the light. The light almost blinded him, but God reached down and took away his pain. God lifted him and sent him back to our world.

They swam around him questioning and listening to the story again. They debated. “Did God cause the pain in the first place and then saved him?” “Is the poison from some other evil?” The large cow returned from her feeding along the beach and suggested that perhaps he had been “rejected by God.” Many of the larger stronger ones who met God did not return. “Were they accepted into a better life?”

Then she told of taking the poison. “I have seen his light and escaped the poison by myself. I have the scars to prove it”

In the growing light they moved into the deeper water. They debated. Some of the smaller ones even suggested that they “try the poison.” They could meet God in that other world. The larger ones seemed to be content to live life in their world until God “called them.”

By Jerry van de Sande from “Zen and the Art of Surf Fishing”