“And Jesus... saw... Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And He saith unto them, Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:18,1918And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. 19And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. (Matthew 4:18‑19).
Sports fishermen, standing on the banks of a cool stream with a strong current or fishing from drift boats, hope to catch a few steelhead trout to take home for eating. But many of the fishermen get a thrill out of just catching these fighters (related to salmon) and immediately release them back into the water.
Steelhead trout, weighing from 3 to 20 pounds, are found mainly in oceanside streams from California to Alaska, but some also live in North Atlantic waters. They are actually rainbow trout, but are called steelheads because they change to a steely blue color during their migrations from fresh water to salt water.
Travel to the ocean is usually in the spring and their return, after three years in salt water, is in the fall. In these migrations some will travel 200 miles or more in the river, but no one knows how far they travel in the ocean. As they work their way upstream, mates are selected and together they return to the same spawning area where they hatched. No one can understand how they pick the right stream after being gone so long, but it is a God-given instinct that works without fail.
However, as many rivers and streams now have dams that steelheads cannot get past, hatcheries are used in many places to hatch great quantities of eggs taken from migrating females. The fingerlings (baby fish) are placed in suitable mountain streams in the spring soon after hatching.
Mature steelheads have smaller scales and shorter heads than salmon. They are beautiful fish, dark blue-gray along the back from the top of the mouth to and including the large upright tail. There is a soft pink band just below the blue-gray and appearing again on the lower fin. Between the lower fin and the pink band is another olive-colored band. The entire underside is plain white. This coloring pattern is almost identical to some salmon.
Others are silvery with tints of gray and pink. Some adults also have tan backs spotted with small brown circles atop the pink middle stripe. They will all give a fisherman a long, tough fight when hooked.
What do you think the Lord Jesus meant when he told those two fishermen, in the Bible verse above, that He would make them fishers of men? He was promising to use them to bring the gospel to many people to save them for heaven, by telling them of God’s love in sending Him to be the Saviour of sinners. And Peter and Andrew did that faithfully.
Have you ever been “a fisher of men”? Have you ever told others about our blessed Saviour and His love for them?
September 8, 1991
ML-09/08/1991