Enemies at the Gate: A river angler's 40 foes.

Here are some of my worst enemies while stream fishing for smallmouth bass. No particular order.

1) Wood Nettles

2) Poison Ivy

3) Wind knots

4) Fresh Laydowns with lots of grabby underwater branches

5) Nosey, protective landowners

6) Bad boots/footwear

7) Cold rain/cool day.

8) Sunny sunshine- unless Spring, late Fall.

9) Silt

10) Meat fishermen who eat bronze basses

11) People who litter

12) Cotton- Wet cotton- Wet cotton rubbing thighs.

13) Rodents- Beavers, Muskrats, Ground Hogs, Possums,  etc. Furry swimmers can go to HELL. Stay the "F" away from me.

14) Carp- I don't care if they are fun to catch fly fishermen. They are trash waste of biomass and deserve an arrow through them.
15) eroded banks

16) 10#/2 dia braid- Sammy launcher sans line.

17) Dehydration.

18) Indescrimminate shooters who can't contain their load.

19) Ride revoakers.

20) Mr. Race to the best spot guy so I can cast first all the time and let you catch dinks inbetween guy.

21) Slimey, slippery algae.

22) Knee buster wades

23) Sweat in the eyes

24) Salt from sweat in the eyes.

25) Out of Backpack Buddies

26) ATV'ers

27) Monster truckers driving in the creek

28) Ticks

29) Deer Flies

30) Gnats in the moutheyesandears

31) SNAP!

32)Peoples with nets

33) Crazy Wood Folk

34) Algae blooms from our runoff

35) 0' visibility water clarity

36) Broken tip top

37) That road ain't supposed to be there/ There is supposed to be a road here according to the map.

38) Grumpy fishing partner

39) Overly competitive fishing partner

40) Energy overload- Red Bulls, cigarettes, Power Bars- you just might turn into the HULK.