What a difference a day makes...

[cd1]

Friday I decided to leave work early, pick up the wife, and take the boat down to the lake.  It was a perfect plan.  The grandparents were keeping the kids, the weather was beautiful, I was gonna get the last 2 hours of light, then maybe an hour after dark. 

I get home, get the boat, and drive to the lake.  On the way there we hit a great little dive for a cheeseburger before getting on the water, still plenty of light...things are looking good.  I pull into the parking lot and the place is empty...sweet...I have the whole lake to myself!  I pull up to the ramp...and it is bone dry.  It is a concrete ramp that leads to a cracked muddy lake bed.  They've let so much water out that the ramp is no longer useable.  Unbelievable...but not too big a deal because there is a lower ramp on the other side of the parking lot.  I go over there and try to launch but it's so shallow that I can't float my boat before the tailpipe goes underwater.  Now I'm screwed...I have to haul ass around the entire lake to get down to the dam...the only place I'm assured will have enough water to float.

I make it to the dam in record time but the sun is setting.  It's so close that I'm thinking it might be better to just drive the hour and a half home without putting in because at the current rate it looks like it will be a real half-ass adventure...and when it's over I won't have had any time to do good at the lake, and it'll be so late that I won't be able to do anything at home when I get there.

Ultimately I put in.  My 2 hours has now shrunk to about 35 minutes worth of light by the time I get in the water.  I have the wife pull the truck up and I start casting while I'm waiting for her.  I have a line out when she comes back down so I just set the pole down and figure I'll reel it in after I get her.  I'm in a hurry and when I back up after picking her up I wrap my line around the prop and lose a chatter bait.  A great start.

I haul arse across the lake to the only decent place I can get before sundown and I start to fish.  I get nothing.  I move twice more and ultimately catch one bass and have another shake the hook boat-side.  A short time later I get harassed so badly by a bat that I'm forced to move...he dive bombs me for about 5 minutes...coming so close to my head that I can hear the rapid-fire beat of his wings. 
I do a quick night-time tour of the dam for the wife and I go home.
So...today...I go to a different lake.  I've never been there.  I hesitated to even go after the fiasco from the other day.  Ultimately I go.  I find a marina online that looks like it will work, get directions and I go for it.
The marina is awesome...it is a really cool little out of the way, quiet place with the perfect boat ramp for launching solo.

I got 3.5 hours of fishing in, caught two 4 pounders, and learned a really cool new place to fish.  My drive home took about 2 hours and it was a nice peaceful ride after the days accomplishments.  If I hadn't gone out today I'd have still been upset about the last trip where everything went so horribly wrong.
I guess the lesson is to stick with it...bad luck changes to good...and you need to out there to take advantage of it.

[tsmith35]

I've found that when I have to fight to go fishing, I often get skunked. When it's a great day and everything seems to go smoothly, I do well. Perhaps it's all in my head, but I've always felt that good things and bad tend to come in waves. Some days are great, while others stink. And most days are in between.

[eclark53520]

My theory is that you have to believe you will catch fish to do so.  When everything is going wrong and your running late, you are not in a patient state that it takes to catch fish.

Conversely when everything goes well, and you are in a great mood, you know you are going to catch fish.  You make sure you pay complete attention to every cast and you catch more fish.