Like most anglers I know, I don't have enough hours in the day to do all the things I want. As a father of three, a husband to one very hard working young woman, and an employee in a company that offers less than perfect hours for going fishing (add that to the fact that it is the end of the school year, and we are leaving very, very soon on the largest family vacation we have ever been on), and I am down to almost no time for chasing fish. But if you look hard enough you can always find an hour here or an hour there. It simply requires that you sacrifice some little things. Like sleep.
So I left the house early this morning with a 5wt in hand and a few flies and my lunch tucked into my backpack, and I headed to work. By way of the river, of course. The object was to stop at the creek, fish for an hour or so, then finish off my walk to work arriving just in time to stash my gear, clock in and start the work day. Simple, right?
The water was higher than normal and very cloudy, so I led things off with a nice dark wooly bugger. Almost instantly I was hooked up and was quite proud of myself for being such a master fisherman. I fought the fish for a few seconds and was gaining line when, to my disappointment, the line went slack. Can't win them all, right? So I head down stream to the next little hole. As I said the water was higher than normal, and when I stepped forward onto what was once a solid creek bank, suddenly it gave way and I was up to my shins in cold ass water. (My boots are still soaked, by the way.)
After having a few choice words with myself, I again moved down stream. At the next hole I found bluegills sipping bugs off the surface. Excited, I changed flies to a nice little Adams. Nothing. Change flies again to a very small caddis. Nothing. Change flies again to a Griffin Nat. Nothing. I went through 5 flies, 2 feet of tippet, and couldn't catch a cold. Or maybe I will catch a cold 'cause my feet are freezing. On my final cast, I hooked a nice sapling tree on the far bank of the river, broke my line, and called it quits for the day. Can't Win Them All.
