Ultimate competition

David Morriss once again got me to thinking about competition.  He is correct.  The ultimate competition is between the fisher-person and the fish.  And, of course, he is also correct that none of us would enter a competition within which we knew we would always win.  There have been times in the "ultimate competition" however, when I have wished that I would win a little more often then I was at that particular moment in time.  I recall perfect evenings when the "hatch" was on, fish were rising all around me, and I was "shooting blanks".  There have been times when I have, literally, tried every fly in the arsenal ~ all to no avail.  Gosh a fella's self-esteem suffers during those periods of  "bad luck" ~ or should I say inaptness?  The process is a lot like putting your kids' Christmas toys together.  You never read/study the directions unless you're truly stuck.  Oh I might subconsciously watch to see if the risers are hitting above or just beneath the surface of the water and the general size and color of the bugs in the air, but I don't truly "study the situation" until I'm in real trouble, i.e no strikes - no nothing!  Then, out comes the little screen thingie.  I study the screenings.  I sit on the bank and observe flying things.  I closely watch the fish rising, where they are rising, how, etc.  By that time it is usually dark and as I head back to the pickup, I think, "if I only had a little more time I would have figured it out!"  And, quietly, I think to myself,  God, I hope no one was watching.

On such occasions, what I'd really like to know is,  "how does some vertebrate like a fish that has as a brain a wide spot in its spinal cord consistently out smart the human vertebrate whose brain is capable of opening child proof medicine bottles?"  Of course, on those rare occasions when the fish are "biting" and will rise to any thing thrown at them, including those scruffy royal coachmen you tied when you were twelve years old, you know you are catching them because you have superior intellect ~ and of course are a brilliant fly fisherman. 

One thing about the human brain we tend to "over think" these things!   But, I have learned one thing over the years if you encounter a guide or some such expert that states he/she has never had a "blank" day of fishing avoid em.  They haven't fished.  Some days you're just out there for the "experience".