Recently I fished an eastern Washington spring creek called Rocky Ford. If you've not fished it, believe me when I tell you, it gets A LOT of traffic. It's not uncommon to fish a 40 yard stretch of river with 10 other anglers. There is essentially 3 miles of fishable water and it gets pounded. Wading in the river is not allowed and thus everyone must fish from the bank. In popular spots that offer easy casting, the bank is eroding into the stream and causing a fan of silt pushing into the creek. The fish are stocked and can reach gargantuan proportions very quickly as the stream is a bug producing factory.

In the morning, we fished the standard areas and watched as our size 20 scuds drifted downstream right towards a toad, only to have him gently move out of the way and slowly sink into a new feeding lane. Of course, the 30 other size 20 scuds from other anglers didn't offer us much of a chance. Why was it in fact that we even fished this spot? We fell into Sheep mode.

"Anglers are like sheep, mindlessly following each other, stepping in the same footsteps, fishing the same flies, and all the while falling victim to the thought that we'll just do it better than everyone else. All the while catching jack dookie. Baaaaa.... Baaaaaaaa..."

In times like these I find it helps to ask yourself two questions. Where can I fish where everyone else is not? What flies can I fish that everyone else is not? Sure, your answers to these questions may mean it's hard to cast, getting mud on your skirt, or looking like a newb because of tangles and lost flies. A little demon on your shoulder may even be telling you, "hey dude, there is a reason no one is fishing here! There are no fish here. What do you think you're doing, those flies will never work? You think you know something others don't? Idiot." Tell the demon to "F" off, and then go slay some fish.

Always interested in hearing from you. If you have experiences related to sheep mode, let me know!