Learning to "Shake off the Stank"

In the world of fishing there are a couple kinds of "stank". There is good and bad stank. Good stank, for example is something that your just-caught-fifteen-big-browns-in-a-row nymph has on it. You are talking to your friends, and they say "don't lose that fly, man. Its got the stank on it."

You should never look like this.

Then there is the bad stank. The throw your pole in the water, pull your hair out, the-foliage-took-all-my-flies-and-I-can't-get-a-hook-set-to-save-my-God-Damn-life kinda stank. We have all had feelings like this, and for the briefest of moments we start to think of the guy who first said "a bad day of fishing is better than a good day of work" and want to punch him in the face.

And inevitably your fishing buddy, who is standing next to you pulling in fish like they are tied on a freaking rope when he turns to you and says, "Dude, shake it off."

Shake it off. Yea, just shake it off, just tap it in. Because up until this point the fishing gods have been raining nothing but shit on your parade, and you are ready to break your pole over your friends head and make the walk of shame back to the truck.

But, you don't. You don't leave. You know why? Because you are doing something you love, even if you may have forgotten it for a moment. So you stay. You tie on another fly and put it on the water. Maybe even catch something.

After you have calmed down and are OK with the fact that the 2 hours you spend tying flies are stuck in the bush behind you, you start to remember where you are. You are fishing, god dammit. You have your fly pole in your hand, standing beside some body of water, fishing. Now seriously, where else would you rather be?

Here are a few quick tips to get back to HappyVille:

1) Jagermeister

2) Think about all those other places you would rather be, and then realize that you are full of crap.

3) Peppermint Schnapps

4) Take pleasure in others fortunes. Like your buttface friend catching all the fish.

5) Whisky

6) Remember all the other big fish you caught and how happy you were then.

7) Beer. But remember, every time you walk away from your fly to piss you will miss a fish.

Remember folks, your fishing. How bad can it be?