Fishing Excuses! 
by Bill Carpan

No fisher is consistently successful, so we all need fishing excuses at times.
My own favorite is one that’s true:

One Sunday I was fishing from my canoe where the Musquodoboit River meets the sea, right beside a small park. In the afternoon a well-dressed crowd gathered in the little riverside park. More and more folks kept coming, and then, as a guitar strummed, they sung the hymn “Shall We Gather at the River”. Next they baptised a whole family by dunking them in my fishing hole! No fish, but a great excuse to take home.

Top that one if you can! Here are some suggestions to get you going.

• Forgot best fly box
• East wind
• New gear not broke in
• Old gear worn out
• Recent thunderstorms
• Recent drought
• Fish slapping fly with their tails
• Fish hitting short
• Ran out of gas
• Ran out of beer
• Followed another fisherman's advice
• Shakedown trip (checking equipment out)
• Inept guide
• Inept netter
• Hooks dull
• West wind
• North wind
• Should have fished elsewhere
• Couldn't see landmarks
• Got lost
• Others fishing our spot
• Too cloudy
• Too sunny
• No flies hatching
• Too many flies hatching​

• Should have fished elsewhere
• Couldn't see landmarks
• Got lost
• Others fishing our spot
• Too cloudy
• Too sunny
• No flies hatching
• Too many flies hatching
• South wind
• Water too rough
• Water too calm
• New road goes right to lake
• Old road to lake is impassable
• Pool changed
• Water too low
• Water dirty
• Didn't have right fly
• Too many bait fish
• No bait fish
• Fish late this year
• Fish came early
• Dog jumped into the pool