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Experiencing The Ineffable, Joseph O'Brien

CrissCross

I can recall the first time I learned to take a fish off the hook after catching it. My grandfather and I were fishing in a river near my home in Connecticut, the sun shone off the yellow of a pumpkinseed sunfish's belly. After removing it from the hook, I put it in a five-gallon pail of water. Despite the clarity of the things I do recall, there are those elements of this memory that remain wholly inaccessible to me. I cannot remember whether it was late spring or early autumn, what color my rod was, or if there were …