Fly Fishing and Fatherhood

[Traveling Trout Co]

Hey guys. As my wife and daughter (more on that later) are at my parents house because our dog has fleas and we are 'bug bombing' the house (spraying, vaccuming, washing ect.) and I may or may not be drowning my anxiety in adult beverages alone with my dog watching the Dane Cook documentary on Netflix, let me quick say something about being a minor YouTube (insert douchebag) fly fisherman who just had a kid.

Maybe its because my daughter is 6mo. old but everytime I've tried to go on a fishing trip to a new historically and architecturally significant town for 'Trout Towns' (shameless self promotion), I have this uncanny urge to rush home. Anything more than a night or two in the mountains/forests that I love brings genuine anxiety that I should be home. It's one of those 'why am I here, shouldn't I be at home' type scenarios.

I just don't care about fishing like I used to. The maniacal drive has faded away. Without giving too much away personally, I'm in my late 30's (still jacked and handsome and funny, obviously), but still my trout fishing edge has dulled. Is this normal when you first have a kid? Will I get over this eventually? Do you guys still hate me or even know who I am? These are questions we will never know. Anyways, I caught a nice brown on trout run yesterday after helping my parents remodel our cabin in north central Pa, so I feel good about the world (minus the fleas). Cheers my bros.

 

[nd1001]

Bummer about the fleas. I’ve been watching your channel for a long time and have enjoyed seeing the transformation to a “super ethical” fisherman (come a long way from the treble hook, no net, dry hands, spot burning days) 😉

Jokes aside, the trout towns series has been some of your best work, and I enjoy seeing the historical/architectural tie-in which is a unique twist and obviously well researched.

I asked my dad a similar question just this last week, pondering if my near future will include kids or not. One cited concern was my apprehension to lose my fishing time. My dad just said something to the effect of “as soon as you kids came into my life, nothing was more important than spending time together.”

I don’t think you’re a bad fisherman for losing the “maniacal drive”. I think you’re on your way to being a good dad. And maybe in a few years when your kiddo can cast a rod, it will all come flooding back 🙂