Be good at one thing, or modest at several?

[PV_Premier]

It seems that every few years I go through an internal struggle of whether I am trying to do too much...be it in life, relationships, work, fly fishing, etc.

After spending quite a bit of time in Idaho this summer and appreciating the simplicity and beauty of modest sized wild cutties on dries, only finally tying on a dry/dropper on Sunday for the first time all summer, I am wondering if I try to do to much...and should just focus on a couple things...

Valley trout and steelhead, the Truckee area, Trinity, occasional coastal steelhead, Upper Sac and McCloud, now exploring Idaho and Wyoming...while it is refreshing to be able to fish a new place "every river day", you lose out on the intimacy and relationship you build with a body/bodies of water.

It is also easy to become quickly overwhelmed and difficult to decide what to do/where to do. I still have never fished Hat Creek, Pit River, Carson, Owens, or completed the California heritage trout challenge. It's embarrasing to say I have not visited the NFYR, Pyramid Lake, or Lake Davis in the last 3 seasons, but it just adds to the "stress" of feeling stretched too thin.

Maybe it is time to refocus. I am not spread nearly as thin as some of you guys as I do not fish warm water or saltwater at all.

Happy hour musings...for what they're worth.

[yubaman]

I have had some same thoughts as you. Went a couple of years not getting to NFY as well. Several years since I have been to the McCloud. Never done the Pit???? Have not fished down low on the Truckee yet this year????

But, fished new stretches ( to me) of the Middle Fork Feather, and had some great fishing. Fished MF Yuba some more. Fished new stretches of the Blackfoot in Montana this year, staying in a new town.

Fishing seems to have this tug of war with our soul at times . . . go to those waters you know and love, or head to new places. I seem to go in spurts. Not much Rhyme or reason to it that I can ever put together. Fishing the Coast for Steel much more these days . . . absolutely love it. Don't fish the LT much these days, gets pretty crowded for me.

I was able to fish quite a bit in June, and then have been bogged down and very busy at work since then. I am looking forward to spending a lot of time on the Truckee in 3 weekends however.

Damned if I can come up with an answer either, usually a good bottle of Cab gets me headed in the right direction though . . .

[WLREDBAND]

Don't be afraid to try new techniques and fisheries. Everything new that you learn helps makes you into a better angler. I'm a firm believer in the adage of the more angling skills you have the better angler you will be, so it pays to diversify. A classic example is I was in Patagonia a few years ago with a group of four (total) and the guide took us to one of his honey holes. The issue was, it was lined with streamside vegetation including walls of willows and it was almost impossible to make a cast to where you needed to be. I was the only person in the group who could spey cast (even though all we had were single handed rods) so I went last. Even though I was the last person through, I caught more fish than all the other guys combined (and it wasn't even close!) because I could make the cast. Needless to say, after that trip, the other 3 buddies all learned to spey cast!

[Bob Loblaw]

I'm the guy who watches fishing videos and fast forwards through the Bonefishing and yawns at Tarpon and doesn't understand or care for the challenge of Permit. I flip through magazine articles about Pike and Muskie and Redfish.

I want to be the best trout fisherman I can be, and I know I'll die a frustrated man, knowing I only scratched the surface.

When I was younger I was a pretty good distance runner and ran quite a few marathons. Some friends talked me into a couple of triathlons and I could never get that bug. Why be mediocre at three disciplines when you can be good at one?

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Question?

We have 3 great freestone river up Interstate 5 above Redding, California.

Upper Sacramento river, Lower McCloud river and Pit river.


Who has fished all three....... a lot......... for decades?


I fished the Upper Sac and the Pit a 'ton' for maybe 40 years now but only fished the McCloud a few times?


Had a cabin in Dunsmuir for 10 years and love the town and the river.

My brother Dick and I fished the Pit forever and that is my all time favorite river.......but not in these high flows today.

I know quite a bit about the entire McCloud river from talking to it's regulars for decades....a great river too.

[MThompson]

Why would you even bother fishing in California if you can spend time in Idaho and Wyoming? One thing I realized a couple years ago when I started getting back into fly-fishing after being away from it for over a decade was that it sucked. Hate to say it. And that's coming from someone who spent a shitload of time on the water for trout and stripers. I can't speak for steelhead fishing but it's hard enough as it is. Obviously there are still good fisheries here but you need to take a number to fish them. The simple equation of less people and more trout seems like the way to go if that's your thing. It won't be like that forever out there either.

[Idadon]

Idaho is not what it was 30 years ago when I moved here, from California, partly for the fly fishing. Believe it or not maybe 10 years ago the luster started to wear off. I’ve caught enough trout to be satisfied I guess. Now I want BIG stuff and since the Steelhead seem to be just about gone we head for the Gulf Coast and it’s re-invigorated my love for fishing. I had just about lost my love for fishing before I found South Texas. I may never catch another 20+ pound steelhead but I’ve got my memories and a 45” Red is a real kick on light tackle. I was born and raised in California and back then it was a great place but I won’t go back there anymore to fish. The AR was one of my favorites but to hear what’s going on there anymore is saddening.

[hwchubb]

I guess I’m one of the few who fall on the other side of this argument. Why WOULDN’T you want to try a wide variety of opportunities? Life’s too short. I’ve been blessed to fish a wide spectrum of waters and species, and it Just leaves me wondering about the things I haven’t. I grew up in New England and started with brookies, bass, bluegill and bluefish. My business career has taken me all over the PNW for sea run cuts, chum, pinks and silvers in Puget Sound, OR and WA steelhead, high desert browns and redbands. I’ve caught goldens out of a lake at the base of Mt Whitney, cuts in the headwaters of the Truckee, rainbows in the headwaters of the Sac and San Joaquin, steel on the coast and in the valley, shad and carp in the AR drainage. I loved redfish and sea trout south of New Orleans with my stomach and head still pounding from too much etoufee, bbq oysters, bourbon and blues the night before. I’ve had a tarpon on for 2 seconds, once, and three years later I can’t get them off my brain.

But so much is still out there. Dry fly BC steelhead, Tierra Del Fuego or Iceland sea-run browns, Atlantic Salmon from my grAndmother’s native Ireland. The rest of the Heritage Trout Challenge. That elusive tarpon. Baja roosters. Lenock and browns in the Baltics. Heck, I’ve been watching videos by a kid in the St. Louis area catching fish like bowfin and gar on conventional gear in Mississippi drainage canals, and I wonder if they’ll take a fly. They’re exotic to me.

I dunno. I turn 57 tomorrow, and I’m realizing I’m closer to the end than the beginning. I’d just hate to miss something. So I guess I’ll take bumbling, stumbling and blind luck into lots of things - I always want to know what’s just around the next bend or just over the ridge.

[Mr T]

whats that phrase?

Jack of all trades, master of none.

[Bkane]

Fly fishing is great, something for everyone!

[tcorfey]

I grew up on the East Coast (New England) and fished for all kinds of species there both fresh and salt water. Moved to CA and have done the same from the sea to the mountains, some places are are worth going back to and some are not. Some places it's a timing thing but, getting out in nature is the best part. The only down fall I see to fishing multiple species, in multiple habitats is how many different rods, reels, lines, flys, boats, motors, waders, nets, you acquire. My wife thinks I am starting a sporting goods store.

To answer Bill's question I do not hit those 3 places a lot but, probably spend a total of a week or two at each location every year for the last 3 decades. The only thing I do not like about the upper sac is the trains and the newer no trespassing signs. They both get annoying sometimes so I spend less time there the last few years. McCloud and Pit are a lot quieter. A man can hear himself think in those places. Luckily even though I am in my sixties I can still get around and into the tougher places to fish. That is usually rewarding in terms of fish caught.

[PV_Premier]

The only down fall I see to fishing multiple species, in multiple habitats is how many different rods, reels, lines, flys, boats, motors, waders, nets, you acquire. My wife thinks I am starting a sporting goods store.

Maybe this is also part of the downside I see in the building complexity or fishing in a lot of different places. Too much crap laying around and some rods don't get fished for seasons on end. I think I fished my 1wt this year for the first time in two seasons. I have not touched my 8wt since I got back from Canada last summer, and have spools with lake lines on them that never get used.

I will have to do some soul searching this winter and pay attention to where/how I end up fishing. I am starting to think it is time to realign priorities and streamline junk once again.