How To: Have a better trip

After returning from a recent trip I took the time to reflect on my year of traveling and fishing. Thinking to myself “fly fishing is really simple, at least it should be”. You go to the water, gear up & catch fish. Simple, right? Well, not always. Recently I spent 3 days nearly freezing my butt off and fishing hard with little result until I could no longer stand. If it wasn’t for the excellent food and drink prep I had done it may have been considered a failure. Things could have gone much worse for my team had I not followed a few of my golden rules, listed and explained below.

Photo Credit @samuelrcass

After returning from a recent trip I took the time to reflect on my year of traveling and fishing. Thinking to myself “fly fishing is really simple, at least it should be”. You go to the water, gear up & catch fish. Simple, right? Well, not always. Recently I spent 3 days nearly freezing my butt off and fishing hard with little result until I could no longer stand. If it wasn’t for the excellent food and drink prep I had done it may have been considered a failure. Things could have gone much worse for my team had I not followed a few of my golden rules, listed and explained below. To put this trip into context one of my best friends had just come off a several month stint recovering from a badly broken ankle, and was on day 3 of unassisted walking. He also had a severe case of cabin fever. The other member and myself were suffering from fall semester blues and desperately needed some air that didn't stink of empty monster cans and stale farts. Enter my genius plan to hit the brown spawn in a secret location. I should also mention here that neither of the friends invited had ever met or heard of each other prior to this trip!

Rule #1
If it's your idea, you're in charge of the planning.

From food buying to essential camp gear packing (if you're into the camp sort of thing). You must take charge, but ensure to think of your party as a whole, not just your preferences. Don’t leave planning to the last minute especially for bigger trips, naturally that’s when Murphy’s Law strikes. Side note, this also means you’re tasked with familiarizing yourself with the area if it’s a new destination.

Rule #2
ABT - Always be tying.

If you tie flies that is. No matter, if you can only find a few minutes here and there to crank a couple of confidence patterns out, THEN DO IT!! Nothing is worse than taking that much needed trip only to lose “the one fly will work” on your first snag, day 1 into a week long trip. So my advice is consistently tie throughout the year, cranking a few crappy flies out the night before you depart is not enough nor will you feel completely confident in your work.
If you don’t tie, routinely stock up or have a trusted friend tie them for you!

Rule #3
Do some homework.

An example from my latest adventure. Heading to a section of the river I’ve fished for many years in the spring, I neglected to find out if the regulations changed at all for Fall fishing. They do. A crucial section of river closes October 1st - December 31st to protect a spawning species of fish. Uh oh. Luckily as I was preparing I thought to give the Ranger station a call and check on weather conditions. During this call I knew I needed to prepare the crew for cold temps and find an alternate section of river to fish. This was a trip saver, I could have had to cancel or worse broken the law because of carelessness. Remember, always check the regs before you wet a line.

And lastly…
Have fun.

Do you remember why you started fishing? It certainly wasn’t to get mad, throw your rod and pout on the bank. I understand, I get frustrated too, and sometimes questions my abilities as a fisherman. Take a pull from your WETFLY SS Flask and get your flies back in the water. You take trips to enjoy nature, hangout with good people and in my case shirk school work. So, take a breath, take a sip, get your head right and keep casting.

Raise glass to your favorite fishing partners this weekend, remember why you fish and start thinking, planning and tying for 2018!!

Cheers and tight lines,

Jared