What I've learned..

"Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in. Its thin current slides away, but eternity remains."
~Henry David Thoreau~

I've spent 48 years and change on this earth. That's roughly 17,680 days. Fishing entered the picture when I was four. So I figure about 3/8 of those days on this blue marble have been spent pursuing things piscine. 

That's 6630 days or 18 linear years. 

You'd think I would be a walking, talking encyclopedia of fishing. A veritable fount of angling awareness. 
I learn something every time I fish. Very few days on the water have I not been humbled by a creature with a pea-sized brain. Instincts over intellect....

All of that leads me to this; There are some hard and fast rules in fishing. Things you can't overlook, nor escape. Like the laws of physics, they exist because they can, and they are absolute. 

1. The fish are in the water, and you can't make them eat. 
2. The weatherman will never be right in your favor.
3. A true fishing buddy gives you his last "hot" bait, fly, etc. There are very few of them out there.
4. There is no such thing as "too much gear".
5. Rule number 4 only applies if you can sneak it past your wife.
6. The next cast is your chance to make up for the last cast.
7. "This is my last cast" has 25 variations. Each one is repeated at least 3 times. 
8. Never be the last one to the ramp.
9. Bragging about your casting or fishing skills, while casting or fishing, produces instant karma 99% of the time.
10. Your "secret" spot is also someone else's "secret spot". 
11. "I'll be home at "x"o'clock" means "I'll be home at "x"o'clock unless the fishing is good, at which point I'll be home when it's not good anymore". Your significant other takes the statement literally...
12. The hot bait or fly is the one you have the least of.
13. Hangovers are never as bad on the river.
14. Never tell your lie first.
15. The plug is never in the boat until you see it in the boat.
16. Having rain gear on a trip wards off rain showers. Not having rain gear produces the opposite effect.
17. When nothing else is working-cast, retrieve, repeat.
18. A good fish at the end of a trip produces different memories than a good fish at the beginning. 

You can always add to this list. You can't, however, subtract from it. 

See you out there..

Free. The. Fighter!