A Mediocre Day at Work is Better that a Rotten Day Fishing

I recently saw a bumper sticker:  the worst day fishing is better than the best day at work.  Obviously that person has never been fishing with me.  I've had some BAD days fishing.  I have had WAY better days at work.

Yesterday Preston and I four-wheeled into a nearby mountain lake.  No. I'm not telling anyone where our fishing spot is.   After spending twenty minutes attaching tippet and fly to my fly rod I was ready to go.  Then I spent twenty minutes casting my fly and untangling it from trees, bushes, and grass. I walked to what I hoped was a good fishing spot where my reel fell off my rod and into the water.  My wet reel wouldn't reel anything in or out without an appreciable amount of persuasion. When I finally lost the fly in some grass and realized my tippet was too brittle (probably it is too old) to fish with, I switched to my other rod.

After taking a fly fishing class from a premier fly fisherman, I can never switch to using a lure without feeling like an uncultured barbarian of the first order.  The thing is, lure fishing is soooo much easier.  For most people.  On my first cast, my lure became lodged under something in the lake.  I spent ten or fifteen minutes walking this way and that, climbing over logs and boulders, trying to free it - which I finally did.  I fished without success for a while and decided to change my lure.  To change the lure, I had to hike a half a mile around the lake to the tackle box, change the lure, and then hoof it back to my "good spot."

At the good spot I cast my line a few times while fish jumped in the center of the lake.  Determined to get my lure where the fish were, I gave a forceful cast.  The top of my rod flew off the pole and into the middle of the lake and sank.  Naturally, my lure tangled in something too and could not be reeled in.  After several minutes, I kissed the lure goodbye and hauled in the line. Thus ended my fishing for the day.

Preston caught a good sized cutthroat trout, which he released.  We called it a day.  Tomorrow, I am buying a new rod, but I question the advisability of the purchase.  In my case, it's like buying aggravation.  The problem is, I can't stand being beaten. I hope this persistence will not end up driving me out of my mind.