It was late in the afternoon on the last day of the annual Mother’s Day caddis hatch fishing trip on the White River, near Flippin’ Arkansas. The fishing had been decent thus far - not great. The guide was an enjoyable young man, his name was Kyle. This was my second day with Kyle. What I liked about Kyle was his willingness to try something different. The sun had finally come out after three days of rain. Now, the caddis hatch was on! Thousands of these little bugs the trout loved to eat. It was time!
The interesting thing about fly-fishing is that seldom does everything go as planned. The fish weren’t cooperating. There were fish when we got to the boat. My partner had caught quite a few. I had done well. We just were not seeing the big Brown Trout we were so accustomed to, and primarily here to catch. We were running out of time. It was past 4:30pm on the last day, and we had agreed not to fish past 5pm. Even though the sun had finally appeared, the sun was also setting on our trip.
The guide had done a solid job changing our depth, fly and almost everything we could do differently. “Kyle let’s think about this,” I pondered. “We have been fishing for three days on the bottom, and though we have caught some nice fish, we have not caught any of the Big Browns we are looking for.” The idea that I presented was simple. They were not on the bottom. We did not see them eating the bugs on the top of the water. “They must be somewhere in between?” I said. Let’s try something in between. Kyle suggested the Rubber Legs that we had used with some success the day before while fishing the banks.
We were making casts into the bank. This was very similar to the fishing we do on my home water in Wyoming. After a few casts, I saw some fish moving. Another cast, within three feet of the bank, and Wham! A Big Brown seized my fly. I did not even have to set the hook, the eat was so aggressive. One problem, he was close the bank so there were many obstacles for him to get behind. Sure enough, he wrapped the line around a rock. Big problem! Kyle was under the gun at this point. He had to row super hard to get the boat upstream from the rock before the line broke. I had to keep the fish on the line without it being cut by a rock.
Kyle was able to get us above the rock, with a Herculean effort. The fish came free. He dove for the bottom of the river. I immediately knew this was a big fish - a big Brown Trout. I managed to get him out of some moss he went under, and then to the boat. A 22-inch Big Brown Trout! Kyle scored two times that day. First, the flexibility to change what he was doing to succeed. Second, I named the fish after him: Kyle. I scored, by using my Kansas farm-boy intellect to determine where the fish were.
So, how does this relate to investing? If what you are doing isn’t working, try something else. When in doubt use what you know, trust your instincts. Our investment process has been working for a good while. We are unlikely to change a process that works. My instincts tell me there are some bumps ahead. Trust what I feel.
Enjoy the day…R2
This is not a specific recommendation. Each individual needs to consult their financial advisor, for specific recommendations. Your financial advisor knows your situation, and risk tolerance. They are best suited to make individual recommendations for you.