Was It Worth It?

I have always been a slow learner. Ask any of my grade-school teachers. Or my first platoon sergeant. But I get by…just takes a few attempts to get it right. Late season canyon fishing, among other things falls right in line. It always takes me over a month to grasp the reality that “the best time to be there is mid-day” means THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY! The tall rock walls make that mid-day window of winter sunshine very narrow. It took me over an hour to trudge down to a remote stretch of river the other day…an area I knew I would not have to share. I only intended to spend two or three hours down there in the canyon, and I knew to hit it mid-day. But I pissed around at the house too long, miscalculated the drive time in the snow…and ended up on the water by 2:00 PM. Too late. Nothing but shadow. And cold. And no bugs around. I caught three very small brown trout on small midge pupa sunk to the bottom of pools with split shot. After an hour I could not feel any part of my hands. Then I trudged back up through the snow pack. It took twice as long going up hill. I arrived back at the truck well after dark and my back was killing me. For three 7 inch trout. Was it worth it? I leaned back, stretched my aching back, fumbled for my truck keys in the dark… Nope. Not worth it.

But I’ll do it again tomorrow.