The line went out badly near the edge of a local lake, and there was no way to pretend otherwise.

Fishing has a way of making impatience visible. The water does not care how clean the cast looked in a person's head.

I watched the weather, checked the knot, and tried again. Most of the work was paying attention without demanding a reward for it.

A slow morning can still be a good one. The line went slack, and for once that did not feel like failure.