Holy hell, that was bad...

Everything went wrong this afternoon on the water, and here’s why.

-I only had a short time to go fishing on this trip so I was overly eager to get in the water.

This resulted in not pausing to examine the water, like at all (shaking my head).

-I made assumptions choosing a fly

I knew there had been a shad kill going on a few hours before I got there so I threw a white woolly bugger on. I thought the fish might still be keying in on the kill and the bugger would bring a couple aggressive fish to the net. Thinking back now, midges were blowing up around me.

-I stepped in the water, eyes probably on the middle of the river, before looking and seeing where the trout might be more likely to be holding. Simple, you can’t step on a trout and expect him to eat.

-I started to get frustrated and let my casting get sloppy. That resulted in wind knots. That resulted in more frustration.

The take away is clear, and so often said. I heard all the voices in my head as I walked back to the truck with nothing but cold fingers and a guppy to the net.

THINK BEFORE YOU CAST. ..Idiot..

So obvious, until those times where I think i’m in a hurry. I went into a default mode. I let my thoughts on the way to the river of what the water and fish were doing dictate what I tied on, and went splashing away like a fish would jump on the end of a line just for the joy of being caught. A recipe for a highly annoying drive home rather than success.

So, lesson learned. Take a second to take it in. It’s always worth the extra minute or two to let the river tell me what to do. Just connect the puzzle pieces, and feed some fish. It’s much more rewarding.

Yeah, next time for sure!

Unless i’m in a hurry of course...