If fishing were easy, it would be called catching. Anybody who has every fished for fun, or competitively has had to come to terms with this phrase on multiple occasions. This saying usually comes after a day where nothing seems to go right, and anything that can go wrong usually does. Unfortunately, this phrase ran through my head all day long last Saturday during a river bassin trail tournament. Let me fill you in on a little back story leading up to the day, that I thought would potentially be awesome. Due to a back injury, I have not been able to go kayaking for a month or so. Standing up and walking was a chore in itself, but sitting in a kayak and paddling was torture. My fishing during this time was very limited, I was able to go a couple of times and fish from the bank for short periods of time. The week before the tournament my back had finally loosened up enough to go fishing multiple times over the course of a couple of days. This “pre-fishing”, however was done at local ponds, I really just wanted to test some new lures and my back to see if everything was ready to go. On Wednesday, I was able to catch and land a 6 1/2 pound large mouth and she was a beast. On Thursday, I was able to catch and land a 4 1/2 and 6 pounder. So needless to say my confidence level for the weekend was through the roof. Historically speaking for myself, when I start catching big fish, I usually have a hot streak that lasts a couple of weeks. Saturday mourning the day of the tournament when I slipped the Jackson Big Rig into the river, I thought this would be the best fishing day of the summer. Little did I know at that time, that my prediction was far from reality. I started the early morning by throwing a pop r trying to get the top water bite going. I was able to catch a few black perch, unfortunately these were not the fish I was looking for. I switched over to a swim bait and after a few casts boom, I had set the hook on a nice largemouth. The fight was on, she started pulling drag, when I saw her beautiful green shimmer under that crystal clear water my heart started pounding. Suddenly, I felt the line go limp and I saw her returning to the deep pool that she had came from. Anybody who has ever felt the thud of a large fish knows the feelings that I was feeling at this moment. Immediately a surge of emotions come over you, the feelings of disbelief, anger, disappointment all at once. After composing myself, and getting a new lure tied on I told myself its ok, where there is one there has to be more. Little did I know at the time, I was apparently setting the tone for a very disappointing day. During the next couple of hours between my fishing partner and I we had lost four really good fish. Some of these fish were right at the boat, some broke the lines while being reeled in. We couldn’t believe what was going on, we just looked at each other in disbelief. However, during this time we were able to catch a few measurable smallmouth, and I thought our day was going to turn around. We had found a stretch of river that was basically a large boulder field with cover on the sides of the bank. The heat of the day was starting to set in, so I decided to slow things down a bit and throw a tube. The first cast was on the left side of a downed tree behind a boulder, as the tube fluttered down I felt the bite of leviathan. I thought the rod was going to be jerked out of my hand, I immediately set the hook and the fight was on. I felt the line being pulled from spinning rod, and then I saw the beast as she surfaced and put on arial show in front of my kayak. With every crank of the reel, all I could think about was this is the largest smallmouth I have ever caught in my life, do not screw this up. Suddenly, I felt the line go limp, and my heart sank. The emotions that I had felt earlier in the day from the first fish that I had, started running all over me again. I looked over to Adam and said “can you believe this has happened again,” and I stated reeling in the slack. Much to my surprise the line took off in the other direction, I hadn’t lost her she was running towards me. I was able to do a secondary hook set and I had her at the edge of my kayak. I was starting to reach behind me and get the net, but I was afraid that if I wasted any time that she would spit the tube. So, I decided to flip her out of the water and into my kayak, this was a mistake that I would soon regret. As I flipped her, I was able to see how large she actually was, she was 3 1/2 or 4 pounds and she was a beautiful sight. Unfortunately, while hovering in mid air she made one last thrash, and she was gone. At that moment I was sick at my stomach, all I could think about was what did I do wrong? The rest of the day was a total bust, after 3 bait casters that had backlashes so bad I couldn’t pull out, a broken rod, the storm that we were caught in and all the lost fish needless to say I was ready to go home. After a few days of thinking about what had unfolded, I came up with a theory of what I think went wrong. Our mindset for the day was not right, we started the day out really seriously and all we could think about was winning. The thing that we forgot to do on the the water was have fun. Fishing and kayaking should be about having a great time with your friends and family on the water. Catching fish is just a bonus when you are out on the water. For anybody that reads this article always remember everyone is going to have a day like the one you just read about. Its’s not the end of the world, take the experience and learn from what may have went wrong. Remember to have fun, because at the end of the day thats what the most important thing about fishing is anyways.