Castwell is right again (still?)! The learning never stops, or at least it shouldn't. One of the best things that ever happened to me was landing a job on an island, where when I wasn't cutting hay, tending sheep, fixing machinery or tending to thousands of other details, I could fish whenever I wanted. It got to the point where I could just skip down to the shore below my cabin and tell if it was going to be perch on a caddis, smallmouth on poppers, or pike on a zonker. Started getting all cocky about it, too, especially when I could fish my way all the way around the island, catching what I wanted, where, when and however I pleased.

Then, another best thing happened. A story all its own, I had to leave that island paradise and start fishing in new places. New water, new strategies and challenges all around. Skunked! Skunked again and again, beaten and humbled. It was like learning to fly fish all over, anew, which was good. Very good. I slowed down, watched and paid close attention, sometimes not even wetting a line in my new favorite pond. Then, the other evening, I finally got a cast under some low branches and the bass knocked the spots right off my popper! Wouldn't have happened if I hadn't taken the time to slow down, look and learn, and it sure wouldn't have happened if I'd given up.

Shake it up and slow it down. New waters, new lessons.