At some point in the last hour of the trip that feeling settled over me; I’m not going to catch a fish today.
It wasn’t like there were any major catastrophes that day. It was cold, but it had been cold for a week. So I couldn’t blame it on any pre or post frontal activity. The sun was shining, the water temperature had warmed a few degrees since I had been there, but I knew in my heart of hearts that it wasn’t going to happen. On this trip.
It happens to all of us. Goose egg. Skunked. Wearing the collar. Regardless of what you call it, how you deal with that day can determine the fate of future days more than you know. I’m not a psychologist, nor a motivational guru. But I’m gonna tell you how I deal with it; Faith.
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| Faith |
Every cast I make, every fly or lure change, I know that’s gonna be the one. From the time I send my offering into the depths, until the time it reaches my rod tip when I start again, I know there’s a fish lurking.
Toward the end of every bad day I find myself fighting fish in my mind. How I'm gonna set the hook, what side of the boat I’m gonna land the fish on, any potential snags between me and my imaginary quarry. I go so far as to imagine the length and take a mental picture of the fish, playing over in my head how I’m going to describe the battle to my friends. I see myself sending the picture to my group of fishing buddies with the caption "Last cast of the day". It’s so real to me that I can almost smell the piscine musk lingering on my fingers.
Faith.
I remember one dry spell four or five years ago, spanning five or six trips. I managed to hook and lose one fish on all of those trips combined. But I bet I landed that fish 40 times in my mind.
Faith.
To be a great, hell even a good, angler, you have to have that faith. You have to know, all the way to your core, it’s just one trip. One trip out of hundreds or even thousands you’ll take in your life.
One day does not determine a lifetime.
I tell myself that everyone has to pay the fish gods. The river giveth and the river taketh away. I’m banking karma for the next one.
Faith.
It’s what keeps us going forward. It’s what brings us back. It's the unseen force that moves through all of us as anglers, and keeps the doubt monster at bay.
Besides, that’s why they call it fishing and not catching…
See you out there.
