Slow. It. Down.

This summer Jacob and I have both had lists of things to accomplish a mile long and the closer we get to our vacation the more the "to-do's" seem to pile up. It's been "hurry up and get it done" for months now, barely finding time to squeeze in personal fishing trips. Living life at this pace inevitably ends up fishing at the same pace. We end up worrying about the work there is to do at home, the guide trips that are tomorrow, and how many hours of sleep we can actually survive on. To make matters worse, I rarely sit back and enjoy fishing anymore, I focus solely on how many fish are being caught, am I getting good enough pictures, are all my images starting to look the same, what can I do to shake it up? It's hard to get out of that rushed mentality when it's become your life.

Wednesday Jacob and I managed to get out and gain a few hours on a small stretch of water not far from the house in between rain storms. The day began per usual, rushed and stressed. Little rainbows swam all around us, bubbling up to eat bugs rising off the surface or to chase our flies. Every take I had, back flew the fly, usually into a laurel, with no trout attached. Frustration now added to the stressed and rushed feelings, that's a pretty piss poor combination on a trout stream.

I finally sat back and told myself this is not working and this is definitely not going to work out West. "If you're not catching rainbows because you're too fast, you sure as hell are going to be too fast for those cutthroat."

Slow. It. Down.

Stop worrying about blogging and photographs.

That laundry that needs to be done can wait. 

Sure, you've got rod socks that need to be sewn, but this is your time, your day off.

And guess what, it worked.

Fish were caught, photos were taken, stress was alleviated, and everything came together, just like it always does. 

Life lesson from the tiny trout this week, slow it down, and everything will work out just fine.