Skunked

On the days I get skunked, I’m going to instead call them scouting days. I think I read that in a Gierach book and he’s a smart man, so I’m gonna run with it. It takes the sting away to call it scouting and not sucking at fishing for trout. Don’t get me wrong, I like trout. I like them a lot. I think they’re a beautiful fish, the colors are things people spend their lives writing books about. In fact I’ve got trout tattooed for that reason alone. Maybe I don’t suck at trout fishing. I’ve caught them before and for the most part I know what to do to trick them into eating a fly presented to them. Today I’m not even sure if a trout saw what we offered. We tried it all. Huge streamers, dries, nymphs, you name it. I think Justin had a strike but that was it all day. Okay it’s excuses time: The water was high. The water was cold. The water was too fast. The storms the day before blah blah blah.
We ended the day with Scotty using my head for target practice with his fly line. Luckily he’d broken his fly off right before so I don’t have any piercings.

After a long cold day with no fish in hand we hung it up. I dropped Scotty off at his place, Justin headed back home to Bloomington, and I headed over to FlyMasters to spend a few bucks before driving back to Lafayette.

I honestly think it’s the mark of a fisherman on how he or she takes being skunked. Yeah, it sucks and you might bitch about it for a day but at least we got on the water for a few hours and I got to meet Justin in person. I wasn’t at work and I wasn’t at the dentist. Those are two places I dislike. I like being on the water with friends, enjoying life, and having some laughs. The fish are secondary at least that’s what I tell myself
Next weekend is only a week away…