The fire was lit, now it's time to feed it!

May 2, 2020 I packed up my husbands rod, fly bag, printed my fishing license, pulled on a pair of rubber boots, got in the truck and headed out solo. When you don't know what you're doing you're going to make mistakes and be ok with that; and if anyone gives you grief (because they will) we all know they had to start somewhere and along the way maybe they fell on their rod while walking backwards. I learn best by doing and by making mistakes and that's exactly what May 2nd was...and it was the best day I had in months, I couldn't have been happier than I was at the end of that day!

Things I did wrong:

• Put my reel on backwards (quick fix, turn it around)

• Didn't put my reel in the little slot designated for it (quick fix, line it up)

• Fed my line though the smallest bottom loop on my pole, aka where your hook belongs (this one still has me laughing at myself because I NEVER realized until my day was done and I broke my rod down)

• Used too much wrist, not enough, too much shoulder, not enough (rinse and repeat)

• Line in a tree (rinse and repeat)

Things I did right:

• Confidently chose and changed two flys based on the bug activity I observed

• Tied 2 clinch knots keeping my fly on (watched a youtube video on how to do it the night before)

• Casted multiple times hitting the spot I was aiming for

• Mended my line multiple times (defined as: counteracting the effects of drag-causing currents by moving the line after it's on the water)

• Observed the river (traveling to multiple spots) the bugs, the rocks, the shoreline, the birds

• Enjoyed every second of what I was doing right and wrong

I quickly realized that if I was a few feet off the shore it would've given me a better opportunity to cast where and how I wanted while avoiding trees. I knew if I could get in the water I could find out what was right around the next bend of the river.

I drove home with sun-kissed cheeks, a sore arm and a full-heart plotting my next one woman fly fishing adventure and I felt I wanted to look into waders and boots so I could see what's around that next bend...