How many times have you been on the receiving end of the kindness and generosity of strangers while on the river? The community of fishermen is (for the most part) a very friendly and accommodating crowd. You never know when someone might give you a ride, let you borrow a phone, give you some flies or helpful advice, or just help you out with whatever you need.
I spent yesterday in Livingston with my girlfriend Kaitlyn. Late in the afternoon we were just about to leave the dog park (which just so happens to share a parking lot with the Mayor’s Landing fishing access) when two guys in waders flagged us down. They had just finished a float and the phone they had was dead. So they borrowed mine and when the one guy’s wife didn’t answer they piled into the car and we headed into town. Kaitlyn didn’t look too sure about the whole deal, but I knew that two guys in waders at fishing access in February need all the help they can get. (The fishing sucked, they said).
Why put a nice afternoon with my girl on hold to give two guys a lift? Simple. Pay it forward. I have been saved by the kindness of strangers many times and I’m sure I will again, many times. Call it Karma, if you will. You never know when I’ll need a ride back to the car and one of these guys will be driving by and help me out.
How hard is it to take five minutes out of your day, or a couple miles further down the road, to help someone out? Fly fishing, and probably the world in general, would definitely be a better place if we all helped each other out a bit more now and then.
