Ever notice how fishing seems to be about timing. How often do we hear someone going off at the fly shop about how you should have been here yesterday or last week the fishing was on fire! This is very true, certain ponds or lakes turn on at very specific times of the year, certain hatches have a very specific window. Migratory fish have very specific periods when they are moving through your neighborhood. One day a river could be full of ice and the next day it is like rush hour traffic on an L.A. freeway full of steelhead. It all comes down to being in the right place at the right time and being able to prioritize.
I tell myself that steelhead do not care about my first world problems, obligations and deadlines. If I want an opportunity to play with them, at times I must be willing to drop whatever is going on in life and be there when they show up. In a perfect world we would get our schedules synced but when you are chasing unicorns that is never the case. Sometimes a caddis hatch is not peaking until 10 P.M. on the summer solstice and you must get up in six hours to get ready for a business meeting. Too bad, the caddis and those trout do not really care about your meeting in the morning, put your big boy pants on and grab an extra cup of coffee.
Lastly, along with having some flexibility in my schedule, when I get to the river, I consciously switch over to river time. It is sometimes a struggle to resist the urge of looking at that e mail on your phone or wander off on some work problem. That will kill your concentration and experience every time. My mantra is, “Don’t let real life issues infringe on my River Time.”
