"Never cut what you can untie."
-- Joseph Joubert

This is one of my favorite quotes. I remember the first time I went solo on a fly fishing trip. I had only been fly fishing for about 2 years and in that time hadn't logged much time on the water.

Pretty quickly into my morning I had made an ugly birds nest out of my leader. I was so frustrated. I remember cursing and pulling on my nippers to just start over.

Well, instead I sat down and started untangling. It took me 30 minutes. When I was done I realized that I was feeling more at peace and relaxed than I had in weeks.

That was also the moment I knew I was hooked on fly fishing.