It's Okay to Have a Bad Day

Yesterday after getting out of class I decided that I was going to head out and fish the Tuck even though both forks are under a heavy generation schedule, wading was going to be hard and limited in most places. Jared headed down river while Clint and I went further up stream to a section that is not so deep. I started out fishing two tungsten bead nymphs to try and get down to where the fish were at. Clint hopped in and immediately started catching fish (as always). If you have ever had a desire to do a trip through a fly shop or do a float trip, I highly recommend booking either Clint or Jason through Hookers Fly Shop. Both are fantastic anglers with similar fishing styles and will definitely put you on the fish. The link to their website is displayed to the right on my page... Anyways... I however was slow to even get a strike, I missed two fish right from the start. I was having trouble getting flies down to where they really needed to be. I am currently in the process of revamping my fly boxes so I was lacking my anchor flies that I normally use to really get down deep with. I seemed to be in some sort of bad luck streak, It seemed as if everything was not going my way! When I did get strikes, the fish would somehow spit the hook. I was getting beat by the fish so I went back to what I know! I tied on a big bunny strip streamer and to my surprise I finally hooked up on one and landed it. I was way behind both Clint and Jared. I caught a few more and then the phone started ringing, It was Clint who was down river and he told me that he had the fish of the day on and that I needed to get there quick! I ran down river and he had hooked into big sassy! It was probably around 21" or better and was definitely a beautiful brown! Clint called it quits after that one and I continued fishing with my bad luck still hanging around. Although I was having a bad day, I was just glad to be out there! Sometimes its not all about catching fish and I try and tell myself this from time to time. Instead of focusing on catching fish I decided I would shift my focus to working on different casting methods, drift methods, angles, and all sorts of things. I figured if I couldn't really get into the fish I would at least use the time to try and improve my skills. I continued to work on things the rest of the day and just so happened to end up getting into a few numbers as well. Overall Clint and Jared had most of the luck catching around 60 fish combined while I ended up with 13. Moral of the story is that it's okay to have a bad day, slow down, keep your head up, and use the time wisely to work on techniques and skills! Don't think for a second that you're the only one who ever has bad days because I can guarantee you that everyone has bad days!