Initially I conceived of this video as a pretty straightforward adaptation of an article about Ernest Hemingway teaching me to love fishing. It was very “this is a love letter to” and my executive producer told me it was not a video. Fair, since I wrote most of it in the shower, in a fugue state.

I let it sit for a couple of years. When I came back to it I had a much better idea of how to structure it around fishing game mechanics — Polygon is a gaming channel, after all. It’s the sort of video that asks viewers to come along for a ride. You might not understand what Ernest Hemingway has to do with video games at the beginning, but by the end I hope I’ve won you over.