
Today, I got out of bed at 5:20 AM.
Those of you who knew me in my youth must be shock at that statement. I used to sleep into 10 and 11 o’clock in the morning. But one of the gifts that fly fishing has given me is a knowledge of all the wonderful things that happen as the sun comes up. I have spent my whole life watching and looking at sunsets. They can be quite beautiful…
But they represent they end of a day. An almost pessimistic thought… the end.
Wanting to get up and fishing early early in the morning would have once been a foreign thought to me. I have always been a night owl, and my life and social life before fatherhood had taken place at night. As such, it would seem that fishing at the end of the day would be more comfortable for me. It often happens after all the day’s activities have come to an end. There would be no reason to rush to the lake; I could take my time on the water, and fish clear into the dark. Many times the only thing waiting for me after fishing is bed.
However, here is something that fly fishing has taught me about life:
Getting up early to fish has taught me to enjoy watching the world wake up. And this has become special to me…

It’s not that I have never been up in the morning and watched a sunrise; but enjoying one is something I have found through fly fishing. I my quest to find and catch fish, I have been refining my tactics any way I can. In the heat of the “dog-days” of summer, the best time to fish is at sunrise or sunset. Often the windows of good fishing are only at these times in the height of summer; and the feeding periods of fish can be intensely short.
Being on the water at the right time can definitely mean the difference between a great day and getting skunked.
Working in academia in the fall means the my work schedule is running at full capacity. Top that off with a young family and a three year old at home, and my evenings are often spoken for. Thus, my fishing addiction drives me out of the house to hit the fishing “window” at hours of the day a younger me would have baulked at.
Getting up at 5:20 AM means going to bed earlier, prepping my fishing tackle the night before, driving impatiently to the lake, and setting my gear up as fast as possible in the dark. All so I can be on the water and in place as light begins to break across the water.

This entire process seems counter intuitive to me… shouldn’t I be going faster when fishing at the end of the day when there are precious few minutes of light left? Shouldn’t I be more relaxed in the morning knowing there is a whole day ahead of me?
The whole world seems upside down…
I sense this as I wade into the water; a brand new feeling that not noticed in previous years of my life. Each time I stop and watch a sunrise as I am standing waist deep in water, an epiphany presents itself again. The optimism of a brand new day.
In the slow and lethargic pace of an evening fishing I pessimistically pretend that if I ignore the sunset, the day won’t end. But prepping my gear the night before and the excited pace to get out on the water early presents the optimism and excitement of a brand new day. This little realization relaxes and sooths me; as I watch the sunrise give birth to morning.
When I used to live the night life, I would always stay up into the early morning hours. Sometimes I would not go to bed until the hours I now wake up to fish. I never used to see the sunrise. I would only see it set…
And you never realize how depressing a world of sunsets can be. That is, until something grabs your soul and leads you into the morning sun…


And even the littlest catches can sometimes be the biggest events of the day…

Anglers may start their lives by chasing fish… but somehow they always hook up with something more.
Even if the fish are not biting.

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