It wasn't so long ago that I was at the stage in life where a number of iconic figures in the art and entertainment world I'd grown up with had begun to pass out of this world. I am far from being a celebrity hound, but as I scanned the headlines each morning, it was sad and mildly shocking to see that an actor, singer, writer or other celebrity I'd long admired had been admitted to a hospital for the kinds of illnesses that portend the end, or that indeed the end had come.

I teach basic fly-fishing skills at Penn State University. Most of my students have little experience fishing for wild or native trout but have spent plenty of time targeting stocked trout. Our class takes at least three field trips to fish for wild trout on Spring Creek, near Bellefonte, PA. This fishery is full of wild trout which are not easy for inexperienced anglers to catch. Every semester, I witness students with extensive experience targeting stocked trout fail to catch a single wild brown trout during the combined six hours of class time spent fishing the creek.