A Most Strugglicious Year

I know that 2020 and 2021 were tough on a lot of people, and I don’t mean to make light of anyone’s tragedy, but for me so far 2022 has sucked in a lot of ways, at least in terms of fishing. Back in 2020, I fished a ton, traffic was light and my wife Hanna and I traveled whenever we could. Last year, we had one of our best trips to El Salto, combined with our absolute best trip to Guatemala, and two epic journeys to Panama. 

This year the pickings have been a little bit slimmer. 

Until recently, I’ve been boatless for a couple of months, so I’ve depended on our travels to keep my fishing appetite satisfied, and things have been at best so-so. In January, we went to Mexico for bass, and while we caught a handful of big fish, on the overall sliding scale it was a tough trip – perhaps the second toughest in 20 or so visits. In February, we went to Guatemala for round three with the sailfish and suffered through by far our worst results. Again, it’s a matter of degree – we were saved by 10 sailfish in our last afternoon of fishing, and overall it was still better than just about anywhere else – but not the riches we’d come to expect. 

And then last week we went to the Keys for tarpon. Several members of our group landed the silver king. Despite a few chances, we did not. We caught everything else under the sun – redfish, snook, speckled trout, jacks, sharks, and so on – but couldn’t land the one we came for. A good time was had by all, but at the same time, there was an empty space in the fulfilled expectations department.

I realize that this is a distinctly first-world sort of complaint. I was in three great places at the right times and didn’t make it happen. At some point (soon, in the case of Mexico) I’ll be back. My slight failings are hardly a cause for your concern. Nevertheless, cumulatively the results make it feel like this fishing year is cursed. I’ve made it a point to go to the best places at the best times, and if that still doesn’t work, you need to look for other explanations.

I write this not to seek your pity, but to express some form of empathy with certain Elite Series pros. Looking down the AOY list post-Fork, I saw the following (non-inclusive) list of anglers in the bottom half of the standings. They’re all highly accomplished, many of them past champions, yet in many cases, they can’t seem to get their motors started in ’22.

• 49 Scott Martin 
• 53 John Crews 
• 55 Matt Herren 
• 58 Mark Menendez 
• 59 Clark Wendlandt 
• 62 Brock Mosley 
• 63 Rick Clunn 
• 68 Chad Morgenthaler 
• 73 Steve Kennedy 
• 75 Austin Felix 
• 78 Mike Iaconelli 
• 80 Hank Cherry 
• 83 Keith Combs 

So what do you do if you’re me or them? 

On the one hand, hope springs eternal and I’m ready for the next trip, cautiously optimistic that it’ll be more in line with expectations than the three that preceded it. On the other hand, I don’t know if my psyche can take another major disappointment. I need a slumpbuster. 

For the guys listed above – all of them used to succeeding on the water – it’s even more urgent. They depend on catching fish to make a living. When they don’t, it cuts at their identity. Yet, I bet none of them can put a finger on what they’re doing wrong. Maybe they haven’t “fished clean,” or they “zigged when they should have zagged” but there’s likely not much difference in terms of preparation than what served them well before. 

Sometimes you just have to suffer through it until suddenly things turn around.