We all have our own “demons”to fight. Hard to keep sane in these times of uncertainty and misinformation but it is very important to stay afloat.  For me nature does it. More exactly it is fishing that helps me immerse into nature.

Once you step into the waters of a river at just above freezing temperatures you feel the “Force”. Of course the right equipment helps 🙂

 

 

Catching a fish is just bonus at this point. All it matters is that you are there in that very moment, you feel the river flow pushing against your legs, get your feet in a good grip of the bottom and at the same time keep casting.

Nothing wrong with this bonus:

 

The never ending battle battle between the Jedi and the Dark Force’s Sith happens right here on the frozen banks of this river. For those who don’t know…the fly fishermen using double hand spey fishing rods are nicknamed Jedi Knights.

 

Hehehe 🙂 you are probably thinking now that I’m nuts, gone in the

“cuckoo land”. Nope! not yet anyway. This is just me getting deep into this controversy between these two styles of fishing. More exactly for this outing I chose to use a spinning setup fishing downstream a 1km river section. Then after a shore lunch continue to fish the same section but moving upstream with a fly fishing setup.

Shore lunch preparations:

 

 

While waiting for the water to warm up for my hot chocolate I did some casts in the river:

 

Rainbow residents were present but no steelhead was to be found that day. The clear low water conditions are never good for catching them in such small rivers.

And here is my shore lunch…in my mind this was a king’s feast:

 

The fly fishing easily won the day. Maybe it was the mood or the knowledge or the water conditions … or maybe just luck. I’ll let you be the judge of that. 🙂

Beaty colours and fierce attack from these future steelheads.

But this brown was sneaky and had a finesse in his attack of the #10 pheasant tail nymph.

If you got to this point in this article please hear me out on this one:

We live in times where panic and fear are spread easily by people who know or don’t know what they’re saying…mostly the latter…

Don’t underestimate the power of the mind…keep yourself sane and strong by doing stuff that you enjoy. Keep your spirit strong and your will even stronger by immersing yourself in nature…in whatever way you like it. Run in the forest, fish in the rivers, hike in the valleys or even drive through the park with your windows down.

It will give you the strength you need… I guarantee it!