When you run a business, “you eat what you kill” is the name of the game. In our industry, we work with people, and people are messy, and the “kill” isn’t always clean. It’s funny that we use a hunting-and-survival analogy for something as silly as selling a service or product. As if it’s that serious.

We had a crappy situation at work with a client leaving us high and dry with a multi-five-figure invoice outstanding that represents 18 months of work. We might get paid; we might not. Either way, life moves on, and we figure it out. We won’t die; we don’t starve.

Imagine if life was actually “you eat what you kill.” You get skunked on the lake; you don’t eat. You don’t find any game before winter; you or your family members die. Now that’s pressure.

I’ve been skunked on dozens of fishing trips in the last year, and I am so grateful that I can go home from the lake to a fridge of food to eat regardless.

Trip Stats

We woke up at 5:30 am and drove for an hour to catch the sunrise over Smith and Morehouse Reservoir. At Finn’s preschool, they learned the song that goes “Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun, please shine down on me,” and he’s been talking about sunrises for a few days, so this seemed like a fitting adventure.

This reservoir is nestled between tall mountains covered in dense pine and aspen forests. It’s a stunning location, and well worth the drive up Weber Canyon east of Oakley, Utah. It sits at just under 8,000’ elevation in the Uinta Mountains, which means weather can be a little unpredictable, especially in the late summer/early fall.

We got there at 7 am, and it was only 45° and windy. Luckily, I had the foresight to bring raincoats. In high mountain ranges, always bring a raincoat, even if there is no rain in the forecast! It started pouring about 30 minutes after we got there, and Finn was not having it. He sat on a rock and asked to go home for about 30 minutes until the rain stopped. It didn’t help that he decided to hop in the water and get his shoes and pants wet 10 minutes after we got there, so he was freezing.

The wind made it hard to cast my lure out far, so I was only getting short casts and retrievals. I had a couple of bites, but I didn’t land any fish. I switched between a gold size two Panther Martin, a brown and gold Rooster Tail, and a bright orange Dough Rider, and it was the same story with each of them. Once the sun came out, Finn was happy as can be, exploring the rocks and trees while I fished. It turned out to be a fun trip, but it’s always less fun when you don’t catch anything! Especially because Finn loves to tell the neighbors that “we went fishing today, but we got skunked again.”

Gear:

To get to this lake, you drive on a semi-rough dirt road for about 3 miles. I drive a little VW Jetta that does terribly in any rough conditions. Last time I drove it to an off-road trailhead, as I was backing out, the shoulder of the road collapsed, my back tire went over the edge, and the lightweight front-wheel drive couldn’t get us going again. We slipped down a steep bank and had to pay a few hundred dollars for a tow truck to come dig us out.

Luckily, this trip was uneventful as far as the car goes. Someday I want to get a sick overlander setup that I can load the family up in and hit the trails. Until then, the Jetta it is.

Rating: Lake, 10/10, will definitely be heading back up there again. This trip specifically: 6/10. Had better, but memories are built one trip at a time!

I was hoping to catch some trout to clean and cook for this week, but the fish had other plans. So after we got home, we decided to cook some fish tacos with another one of these rockfish that I caught a couple of months ago in California.

If you ever get the chance to catch rockfish, or rock cod, do it. They are delicious. Firm white fish that cooks up super tender and tasty. Not fishy at all.

I cut them into small bites, dredge them in flour, eggs with fresh herbs mixed in, and 50:50 regular bread crumbs to panko bread crumbs, then lightly fry them in a little bit of oil. Add some fresh onions, your hot sauce of choice, and violà!

These aren’t my favorite tortillas, but my wife and son like them better, so I roll with it. Corn tortillas heated with a tiny splash of oil is where it’s at.

Rating: 10/10. I would eat this frequently, but I’m now out of rockfish from my last trip. Time to plan another, I guess!

I have no idea if this is actually true or if it is just my anecdotal experience, so take it with a grain of salt. But I think it is a superpower for a kid to know how to be bored and happy at the same time. In fact, I intentionally put Finn in situations where he is bored and let him just deal with it. I take him on almost all of my errands and work trips that don’t involve a client. I take him on long drives. Sometimes he’ll bring a toy truck or something, but I never let him watch anything and rarely turn on music. He just sits bored, and either observes what’s going on around him or we have fun conversations about whatever he wants to talk about.

The perfect activity for this is fishing.

There have been trips where we’ve sat for 3 hours hoping for a bite and gotten nothing. Inevitably, Finn gets a little antsy and wants something to do. So I tell him to look at the lake, or the mountains, or the rocks. He always ends up with a stack of cool rocks, sticks, shells, or feathers, and sets off in an imaginative play world with them. It’s awesome. He channels his boredom and his energy into quiet use of his imagination.

Because of this, I never worry about taking him to a restaurant, or to a movie theater, or anywhere in public. He’s fine being bored and doesn’t need an iPad to keep him distracted.

You may say that he has a different temperament than other, more hyper kids. You’re probably right. I’m no child psychologist, but learning to enjoy being bored over the last year has made a huge impact on Finn’s life. Do with that what you will!

Still working out the details for next week’s adventure! The leaves are changing here in Utah, so I want to get out and hike through them. But the weather is also changing, and I want to try to catch some monster catfish up in Cache Valley while they’re gorging before winter. I might do both if I can squeeze them in!

Again, thank you all for your support and feedback! Think of parents of young kids who are trying to get their kids outdoors more, and forward this issue to them.