viz.

I am a desperately addicted fly fisherman, (click here to see my favorite fly fishing blog, Sexyloops) and I recently took note of the pornographic qualities of a genre of angling pictures. In an era of catch-and-release fishing it's customary for fishermen and fisherwomen to pose for impressive shots with their catches before returning their catch (hopefully) safely to the water. Consider this typical example:

Yes, I went out of my way to find an example of "fish porn" with a mustache in the frame, guilty. I'm also not the first to notice the fish porn genre.

I've begun to think of these images as "fish porn" because they present, like other forms of pornography, often unrealistic ideals, and in anglers, they produce physiological responses of lust and anticipation. I'm not condemning the images, but it's an odd correlation in my mind. I am sometimes repulsed by the images at times. I know they're just keepsakes, reminders of a fishing trip, but sometime there is a trophy quality in the images that makes me uncomfortable.

In response, here is an example of my own fly fishing anti-porn, the smallest trout I have ever caught on a fly, a small brook trout from a secret stream in Virginia: