nothing to lose

Standing. Waiting. Drifting. Every time you fish this section of water you target right behind the same boulder time and time again. Year after year there always has been a fish ready to strike. Whether right behind, in the middle or were it all meets together and the CFS picks up. You can set your watch to it a nymph in early spring, dry fly under the hot summer sun but not today not even a glimpse of a head rising or the flash of a scaly side panel. True disappointment to the point where you admit to yourself it takes a small piece of your ego but in reality, it’s soul crushing. The internal argument rears its ugly head. I always catch a fish here! How has today differed from this time every other year. The flows, temperature and everything in between is consistent. Someone must have fished this yesterday, even after going through all the excuses the disappointment is overwhelming. You have not caught a fish for over 2 hours knowing that you will at least get one in this pocket. Now you are looking at your day as a whole you have been on the water for a couple of hours and you have produced nothing. Not a strike, flash, rise and your mulligan whole has given you an unsuspected cold shoulder. Then your mind starts to challenge your skill as an angler even though your last two outings boasted 15 fish mornings with that 18”+ trophy cutty to top it off. But now all bets are off, in your own mind you are the worst angler in the upper 48 and don’t even deserve to be on the water. So, now comes the choice of how the day will proceed. Do you fold up and go home like the soured 4-year-old, do you press on in the same stretch of water or wait what about the smaller size stream that you have never walked up right around the bend in the river. This is where the opportunity of your days’ disappointment can be your greatest strength do you fold up, press on or take the full risk of the unknown? Remember you have nothing to lose plus it can’t get any worse…...