It Only Takes One Good Day of Fly Fishing to Make A Trip

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Quality over Quantity is true in several aspects of fly fishing. Photo By: Louis Cahill

A while back, I wrote a post about how important it is to not put all your eggs in one basket (fishing only one river system) during your fly fishing travels.

What I didn’t mention in that post and should have, was how important it is to not give up when it seems like the entire universe is conspiring against you. My last trip to Wyoming with Louis was pretty awful. We had to overcome a car break down in the middle of no where, water levels so low we couldn’t float in the drift boat we rented for an entire week, and one of us was almost hospitalized by infection. We lost 2 1/2 days of fishing that trip and we were constantly at each others throats. Even the cold beer flowing over our lips wasn’t enough to raise our morale. I’ll leave it at that, because I’m sure Louis will be writing a very humorous piece down the road shortly, detailing the trip, and I don’t want to spoil it. Here’s the important point I’m I’m trying to get at. It only takes one good day of fishing to make a fishing trip meaningful.

Yeah, we’ve all had perfect fishing trips in the past. The problem with that is perfect fishing trips aren’t the norm, and we often find ourselves in the middle of a trip, complaining about the not so optimal fishing conditions, and then start passing judgment on the present trip by comparing it to our past epic trips. Wake up…., fishing all over the world is getting tougher each year, and we better prepare for it by resetting our fishing expectations accordingly, otherwise we’re going to be setting ourselves up for future disappointment. Again I’ll say, it only takes one good day of fishing to make a fishing trip meaningful. Live by this, and you’ll keep the confidence that’s needed to find success when everyone else fails.

Our fly fishing success should be tallied up all together on our death beds, not just from individual trips. Photo By: Louis Cahill

Despite everything going wrong that week in Wyoming, we stayed focused and kept fishing hard, and in the end, it was our very last day of fishing that turned it all around. Louis and I decided to go all-in on a piece of water we had never laid eyes on, and we experienced a perfect day of trout fishing. It can only be described as heavenly, what I would picture fly fishing in heaven to be like, and it washed away all the negative turmoil we had piled up during the trip, leaving us with pure harmonious thoughts for our travels back home. Don’t make the mistake of drowning in your sorrows if a fly fishing trip starts out bleak. Man up, persevere, and search out greener pasture, if that’s what it’s going to take to land some fish.

Keep it Reel,

Kent Klewein
Gink & Gasoline
www.ginkandgasoline.com
hookups@ginkandgasoline.com
 
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5 thoughts on “It Only Takes One Good Day of Fly Fishing to Make A Trip

  1. Your right! One good day wipes out all of the ahhh Shit days. One good fish caught on one of your own flies in that section of water you spied and said to yourself there is a brute laying there…makes a full day. Enjoy your time on the water and being with your friends, even rejoice in your friends catch regardless of how good your doing.

  2. I have always had a theory about this….I call it the “big finish”. If the whole day has been frustrating and crappy fishing and the hatch happens at the end and fish are rising and crushing your dries just before the takeout, that’s a big finish. I’ve had many days and trips that were saved at the end, which makes the whole experience that much better. When we fished the Missouri in early June some years back and the river was historically blown out, pretty much destroying the fishing, I’ll remember the monster carp I landed on 5x tippet. Basically, I trust the fish gods. If they want to give it up they will. If they don’t it means there’s something I need to learn.

  3. Spent a lot of money on a full-day guided trip on the Henry’s Fork (single angler, paying double-angler rate), and no trout. Nothing to show but a 5-pound Northern Whitefish. Threw dries, nymphs, and streamers. Some days, you gotta take it all in stride. The next day, caught three rainbows on a solo walk-and-wade on the Warm River, and broke my Winston 4wt on the heaviest of them.

  4. I couldn’t agree more. Had a tarpon trip to the Keys last year practically fall apart. The guy I was supposed to fish with became hospitalized for a terrible infection, I had to find a guide at the last minute during peak tarpon season, and tropical storm Alberto came ashore the evening of my second day. My one chance to fish was renting a kayak and fishing a mangrove creek. Luckily I found a pod of baby tarpon that we’re willing to play and eat, and I landed several. Even though everything went wrong that trip, that 4 hours of exploring and fishing the mangrove creek saved and made the trip along with some excellent cracked conch and mojitos.

  5. just got back from a week on the San Juan. Had a terrible guide our first day…never learned a thing except that he was lazy. Fished by ourselves the rest of the trip. Hit an excellent baetis hatch the 2nd day. Caught a bunch. Got reintroduced to a fly I hadn’t fished in 20 years. Crowds were unbelievable on the weekend. However, the one good day was memorable and made the trip worthwhile..so concur with your admonition. I figure one or two good days should be considered the norm on a week long trip whether in the states or overseas.

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