In A Good Place

Spent the day on a local Sea to Sky river. It had been over a week since I'd been on the river, something which I normally wouldn't have tolerated during March. Unfortunately life has its demands and those often keep even the most irresponsible of us at work and off the river. Still riding a fishless streak in March and the odds of me getting a fish before the end of the month are getting skinnier and skinnier. Normally I'd be pretty worked up watching the best month of the season slip through my fingers but frankly I'm in a pretty good place these days. Yesterday was case in point.

It was my first time really spending a full day fishing this particular system and I really enjoyed seeing it. The river was pretty similar to the beloved and tragically closed, Big Mighty River south of the border. I've been missing the Big River and its Big Trib so yesterday gave me some good soul nourishment, even without a fish. Anymore it seems like the fish are just a bonus to the opportunity to take a few hours away from the chaos and noise of the city. I've been finding lately that I'm alot more interested in the plants, birds and other fellow inhabitants of the river environment. Rivers are my favorite place to be and steelhead are the fleeting ghosts which haunt all my trips, still it feels like my love affair with these fish has settled into a comfortable and familiar place.

The past few years I've fished with the type of intensity that cannot be sustained. The wake up at 4AM, fish all day with only a few corn chips and thurmos of coffee, wearing out three pairs of wading boots a year type fishing. I've literally made myself sick from fishing too hard. Then there is the competitive nature of the sport. Its inevitable that in a male dominated sport where alot of us are after a very limited number of fish, folks will get competitive. I've been as guilty as the next guy of hubris, but honestly it never has sat quite right with me. While I still may be strategic in my water selection, favoring rested water over fishing behind boats, or privacy over fishing in a crowd I feel I'm past the competitive intensity which once dwelt deep in my psyche. Yesterday I met exactly 4 other anglers and 2 biologists on the river and had 6 very friendly, and rewarding interactions. Lifes to short to be pissed off while I'm fishing.

So anyway, thats where I'm at. Napping in the sand by a sweet run, drinking home brew and soaking up the smells. Probably better give the run its due and fish through though, its only March for so long.