My buddy Dan Flynn knows all about keeping “the want” in check for success. Photo Louis Cahill

Sometimes, wanting too much can get you in trouble on the water.

If you set your goals too high and lose sight of the real reason you’re out there in the first place (to be blessed with  catching a few fish and relaxing), before you know it, you’ll find yourself standing in a river feeling lost and heart broken. It’s not that wanting is bad, it’s just that too much of it, like most things in life, can be detrimental. Want has the ability to turn into greed very quickly if you aren’t careful. And fly fishing with greed on the mind is the quickest way to doom yourself to failure. Greed fogs your mind, keeps you from thinking rationally on the water and your fishing, in turn, suffers.

Success in fly fishing requires focus, constant reasoning, persistence, and foremost, patience. It requires the mind, body and soul to work together in harmony. Whenever you find yourself getting too worked up over your rod not getting bent, take a deep breath, and tell yourself, “relax…, read the water…, and believe.“ Forget about the catching for a minute, and focus on the beauty and the art of what you’re doing with that fly rod in your hand. I’ve found that by doing this, my presentations and drifts improve, I fish much smarter and it’s only a matter of time until I find success.

Keep it Reel,