The Beauty and Misery of the Solo Day Trip

The alarm blares at 4:30 in the morning and I hit snooze and want to die.

This is how I’ve typically started my one-day fishing trips. In the absence of fly fishing friends prior to this year, I had always gone alone, and I couldn’t blame anyone else for the wakeup call. I inflicted the torment on myself.

“It’s not like I have to be anywhere. Why am I doing this to myself?” You may have thought this too. You do it because you must catch a fish on this Saturday morning. It’s a mission and an obligation and without it, you’re certain your soul will slide into the abyss, leaving you worse off than this very moment in which you’re scowling and underslept. The obsession subsumes you.

The night before any fishing trip, I program the coffee maker to brew just as I rise from bed. It’s really the only thing that pulls me from it. Addled and half catatonic, I drag myself to the Cuisinart, pour the coffee into my Bodum glass mug, and return to bed to drink it alone, brooding.

You do it because you must catch a fish on this Saturday morning. It’s a mission and an obligation and without it, you’re certain your soul will slide into the abyss, leaving you worse off than this very moment in which you’re scowling and underslept.

The bright light of my laptop gradually wakes me while the bitter aromas of the black liquid waft from the bedside table. My thoughts begin to sharpen, and my mind turns to the journey ahead.

A three hour drive? A four hour one? If I leave at 6:00, I’ll be at the river at 9:30. Wader up and step in the water by 10:00. Not bad, as I can fish for eight or nine hours before heading back home.

On day trips I survive on water and Clif Bars and the occasional cheese sandwich. My body hates me. On the drive back, I feel beat.

Despite the exhaustion, a day trip on a Saturday promises fun and a free Sunday at home to attend to your commitments. Friends and family and the grocery store. Two days of fishing is better than one, but when you can’t have that, one day on the weekend beats none at all.