Throwing loops in the rain

The beach was a bleak affair tonight, sideways rain in a strong easterly wind brought me my first blank for this season fishing for Sea Trout. It was only a two hour attempt and given that I had got the tides so wrong it was beyond belief, not surprising and a mistake I've not made in years. Also, when I factor in that it was my fly rod in my hand I was totally on the wrong end of the odds. I’m looking at this one as a two hour after work practice casting session; a fish would have been a bonus. This was pretty much the first shakedown of my set up in a fishing situation lasting more than 10 minutes. Simple things like getting used to the stripping basket on my hip, what I have in my pockets, where I carry my net and line control in the waves left me feeling like it was my first day at school. Some things worked well, some things need changing, worth the effort on reflection.   Somehow repeating smooth acceleration and positive stop gets lost in translation (for the moment) in the wind and rain of the coast. Anyway, no wind knots, that’s good surely?