Attitude is...the Only Thing

I was woken up at about 3am to lawn furniture getting blown across the deck. I couldn't get back to sleep thinking about how bad the next day guiding was going to suck. They were predicting sustained winds in the 30's and gusts into the 50's. I kept looking at my phone while getting ready; hoping the dudes would cancel but no dice.

On the way to Craig from Helena, there's a construction zone in the Little Prickly Pear Canyon where a good number of signs were blown over as well as two of the porta-potties. It would have been kind of funny and I even thought about stopping and taking a picture but instead my mind went back to, "God this is going to suck," and I kept driving on.

I texted my buddy John and begged him to work for me. I even told him I'd give him everything I had in my pocket...he declined. I kept driving.

We all showed up at Pete's place to wait for our dudes. We huddled behind his chicken coop trying to get out of the wind. They were about 15 minutes late--just long enough to give some hope that they'd bail but of course, they didn't. We were still on.

My guys were a dad and his son, Fritz and Garrett. I've fished with them before and was a little bummed I drew them yesterday given the conditions. I really like fishing with them. They're both good anglers and they like to learn new things. They also have realistic expectations and above all else, they have a great attitude.

We figured we'd do a short float and with the wind shifting out of the west, I thought we might get a couple breaks. At least we'd get out there and see how it was and make the best of it. Our first order of the day was just not to get skunked. That was accomplished in about 10 minutes. Then they both landed one and in the first hour, we boated about a half dozen. The next order of the day was to lose count and by lunch, we were well past being able to keep track of the number of fish we were landing. The fishing was so good we didn't even notice the wind and it was just another lesson this crazy lifestyle/occupation/passion can teach.

Keep 'em where they live...