Lazy vs. Complacent

I don’t think I’ve ever met a lazy fly fisherman. I have met lazy bait fishermen — fishing for catfish or carp. Although I’m not saying all catfish and carp fishermen are lazy. What I am saying is that if you are kind of lazy, or maybe you just prefer a more relaxed approach to fishing, maybe you should stick to fishing for catfish and carp while you sit in your lawn chair and wait for your cork to bob or the bell you have attached to your rod tip to jingle.

As you know, fly fishing is pretty darn proactive. It often involves wading in fast moving water or through rocky or muddy creek bottoms. Heck, just putting on and taking off waders is not for the lazy person. And then there’s reading the water, determining if there’s a hatch, matching the hatch, tying a tiny fly on super thin tippet, casting again and again and again, then if that doesn’t work tying on a different fly or flies. And even if you sometimes use a bobber (strike indicator), it’s work to watch that thing so intently as to catch the most tiny change in its flow. And that intensity, plus muscle strain, is even more evident if the fly fisherman is nymphing.

I just don’t think fly fishing is for lazy people. And by the way, I don’t think trout are lazy either. They generally live in moving water. A lazy trout would be one unwilling to engage in the perpetual treadmill of living in a river. A lazy trout would be skinny and malnourished.

Trout are optimizers; they are incredibly adept at gauging the energy requirements of their environment and responding in a way that maximizes the amount of energy that can be sequestered for the smallest amount of effort. Trout don’t work harder, they work smarter. When temperatures climb into a trout’s optimal feeding range, and when hatches are abundant, a trout can be found feeding in surprisingly quick water. They move out of their pools and into the fast-food conveyer belts of riffles. They may have to fight a swifter current as velocity is greater in riffles, but the food is so abundant that the energy gain is still worth the energy expenditure.

Although I don’t think there are lazy fly fishermen, I do think there are complacent fly fishermen. These fishermen have reached a level of competency and self-satisfaction that they don’t desire to learn more or catch more fish. In fact, I agree with Henry David Thoreau when he said, “Many men go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.” And I like our FATC motto which states, It isn’t just about the fly fishing.

So complacency has its place in fly fishing and in some of life, but I think it can be dangerous in other parts of life. I think complacency can be a thief and a liar that robs many men of a life of true significance and can be unhealthy for their souls.

While both complacency and laziness involve a lack of motivation, complacency implies a self-satisfied acceptance of the status quo, even when there’s room for improvement, while laziness suggests an unwillingness to exert effort. Complacency can stem from overconfidence, while laziness in more directly tied to a lack of motivation to work.

In essence, while both involve a lack of effort, complacency is a more nuanced state of self-satisfaction that can lead to neglect of potential problems and missed opportunities.

Most of the FATC fly fishermen I know are hard-working, successful men. Many have retired from great careers. A word of caution, however, it’s been said, “In America, men don’t die of old age. They die of retirement.” And John Piper cautioned, “You get one life. Then eternity. That life has different seasons. None of them is designed mainly for leisure.”

I have plenty of leisure in my life, but I don’t want my life to be only about leisure. I still have a lot to give. In fact, I’m in a window of time right now, when I’m more equipped than ever before to give back and to help others — in particular to help my family and those close to me. And, I’m not ashamed to be passionate and energetic about helping others. I think that is what God wants. Basically, the Bible says to wholeheartedly love God and to love your neighbors. Jesus, in essence, also warned about becoming “lukewarm”. Jesus, in Revelations when addressing the church in Laodicea says, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; Im have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked…”(Revelations 3:15-17)

The thing about complacency, though, is that we don’t even realize we’ve been complacent until it’s too late. It sneaks up on us. It hides in the background, just waiting for the right conditions for it to grow. While we can absolutely make choices that result in complacency, very few of us consciously decide to be complacent. The irony is the right condition that best grows complacency is success. More specifically, the more overconfident and self-satisfied we are, the more vulnerable we become to complacency.

So what? So what now?

Heed the warning. Be vigilant! Keep looking for ways to grow. If you’ve been blessed, be a blessing to others. Never stop learning, reading and making new friends. And like trout, you can be an optimizer. You don’t have to work harder; you can work smarter. In that vein, the upcoming 2025 FATC Book Study might be a great opportunity to do all that. The short, six-week study will be 6-8 pm on Wednesdays—September 10 through Oct 15 and it includes a great meal. How’s that for efficiency — a meal, a study and fellowship with your fly-fishing buddies all wrapped up together? For more details and to register see Kenny’s recent emails — you know — the emails that complacency may have talked you into ignoring.

John Muckerman

FATC Inspirational & Leadership Studies Lead