I’ve got the cure for a difficult day. And I don’t think it’s a presumptuous statement to assume that a lot of us are having difficult days. It isn’t anything chemical, expensive, or difficult itself. But what it does promise is some peace, some quiet, and some fun.

After work, after dinner, after the kids are in bed, go catch some sunfish.

Take your 3-weight, your 5-weight, or 7-weight. It really doesn’t matter that much. Forget packing up a fully loaded sling or vest. Just put a small box of poppers or foam dries in your pocket.

That’s it. That’s all you need.

Rod, reel, flies. Nothing to stress about, no checking, double checking, and thinking about packing. Chances are you’ve been literally checking boxes and/or checking boxes in your head all day long. The sunfish don’t care about crossed t’s and dotted i’s. They only want something to splash in their general vicinity.

Then just head to the closest body of water. It doesn’t have to be a blue ribbon or trophy or special regulation whatever. Just water. Rural and urban. Lakes and ponds. Sunfish are the fish of the people. They’re your fish. They live where you live and they live where I live. If your first option doesn’t check out, I guarantee the backup will produce.

Once you’re there, all you need to worry about is not getting snagged on a tree. Just cast. Set the hook. Fight these feisty little fish that punch above their weight.

The beauty of sunfish is that you can only spend 15 minutes or half an hour and get everything out of it that you can. It doesn’t require hours of diagnosis, or any sort of prolonged assessment. The technical, contemplative nature of trout fishing is great. But sometimes, you need something different. Fish for a few minutes on the way home from work, escape after the kids go to bed until it gets dark; just get outside.

Appreciate their colors. Notice subtle differences between the bluegill, the pumpkinseed, and the green sunnies. Appreciate that your bad casts still yield fish. Splashing works here. Appreciate that you’re not fretting over fly selection, tippet diameter, and not fretting.

Or don’t even think about that. Simply catch some fish.

Unwind from a hard day with a fly rod in your hand and some willing quarry in front of you.