We have all done this before.....you see a big fish, you get excited, you make a cast and there in the middle of your soon to be perfect presentation a nice puff of wind from the wrong direction blows the line and rig into the rod and man what a mess you have. Its one of the joys of fly fishing......well, maybe not. Its probably one of the most stressful things about fly fishing, and on the wrong day it can put you in a bad frame of mind.........know what I mean?
I often get asked how in the world I manage to keep my cool untangling lines and rigs and fixing stuff when either less than perfect conditions or repeated bad casts cause frequent snafus like the one above. The truth is, it is sometimes nerve wracking no matter who you are, guide or no, but I will say the only thing that has helped me untangle some real bad messes has been the fact that I have made a mess of my own so many times and then had to fix it that I have gotten good at it- - -and because of my many mistakes. Mistakes are good after all!
Its great to know that with even a real mess you can learn something. Almost like there's a life lesson in every tangle. A tangle gives you time to stop, reassess the situation, make necessary repairs and adjustments, and rest the fish. . . all things that are worth doing. And sometimes you still get a chance to catch the fish.
Now lets see if I can go out on the water next time and put all of these wise words into action.......
