are you retired? do you fish ALL the time?

[Catt]

6 minutes ago, Darth-Baiter said:

I imagine days where I get body-aches if I sneeze wrong.  Haha

 

You laugh but I cracked a rib doing that!

[A-Jay]

I completed my obligation and separated from the service in 2007 at 47 years old.

My version of this deal is, I'm not 'retired' from anything.

I still have a life to lead.

Really helps to take steps to ensure I'm in decent enough shape to do that.

That process will eventually stop - but I won't know it. 

As for fishing more or less,

Prior to moving to Michigan in 2007,

I lived within 2 miles of the Atlantic Ocean my entire life and eventually worked on it for almost 30 years. 

Fished quite a bit, more than I do now in fact.

But I always felt like I was 'squeezing it in'.

Where as now, and for the last 15 plus years,

I've been on A-Jay time and it's The Best.

Perhaps my favorite aspect of 'not working'.

I loved being a part of the US Coast Guard and am proud to have served.

But it's not who I am, it's what I did. 

I am so much more.

btw - IMO relatively speaking 'work' was easy, 

what happens next, requires quite a bit more.

YMMV

A-Jay

 

 

 

 

[Tennessee Boy]

1 hour ago, PaulVE64 said:

Retired you will look back and wonder how you had any time to go do a job everyday.

You nailed it.

 

In seven days I will have been retired for one year.   I’ve been very busy.  I fish a lot but not as much as I thought I would.  I didn’t realize that the weather would join forces with other things in life to keep me off the water as much as possible.

[WRB]

My wife retired after 36 years of teaching in 2005, I retired after 50 years as a aerospace engineer on 2015 @ 72.

We traveled the world together and thought the good times would last but they don’t.

Definitely fished more when working was able to set my own schedule and was healthy. 
All my close friends slowly moved away or passed away, age and retirements,

My close group fishing buddies are all gone now and trying to meet new folks.

My wife on the other hand has kept in touch with her close friends and keeps very busy, me not so much.

We don’t have grand kids, lost our only son to cancer and my entire family are gone, I was the youngest out lived them.

My advice is do the things you love now while you can, life is shorter then you think.

Tom

[Zcoker]

1 minute ago, Deleted account said:

 

Until you book an all inclusive Costa Rican fishing trip with the Platinum house keeping package...

 

I've been to Costa Rica a few times. Great fishing down there, no doubt. For me, though, there's no thrill like topwater shark fishing.....period! They come out of the water like angry missiles and dive bomb the lure. The entire fight can see them thrashing across the ocean like a raging lunatic. Some of these fish can push over 7 feet long and 170 pounds. To catch them on a 13-14 ounce surf rod or popping rod....from the sand...on foot....and practically from your backyard off the local beach is about as five star as it can get, IMHO. No plane fare. No hotel fees. No guide fees. Just park and fish. Gotta luv south Florida lol 

[Darth-Baiter]

22 minutes ago, WRB said:

My wife retired after 36 years of teaching in 2005, I retired after 50 years as a aerospace engineer on 2015 @ 72.

We traveled the world together and thought the good times would last but they don’t.

Definitely fished more when working was able to set my own schedule and was healthy. 
All my close friends slowly moved away or passed away, age and retirements,

My close group fishing buddies are all gone now and trying to meet new folks.

My wife on the other hand has kept in touch with her close friends and keeps very busy, me not so much.

We don’t have grand kids, lost our only son to cancer and my entire family are gone, I was the youngest out lived them.

My advice is do the things you love now while you can, life is shorter then you think.

Tom

very interesting perspective.  I thank you for it.

 

my wife is a RN for adult protective services.  her job opened my eyes on some of the horrors of aging.  the goal (my goal) is to age with grace.  making friends is a perishable skill indeed.  I feel and see it now!  I'm not one to claim to be a lone-wolf type.  if I do, it will be a defense position (it can't be me!) .  we as a species thrive with social contacts. I believe it to my core.

[TOXIC]

I have been retired for 4 years and here’s my take….Although my job was rewarding and I liked the people I worked with, after 34 years and reaching my maximum pension payout, I had -0- reason to keep working.   They totally worked me out.  I was spent.  I was very happy to hang it up and be done.  A couple of things I didn’t foresee….First, out of all my fishing buddies, I am the only one retired.  That will change eventually but for now if I want to fish with my buddies, it’s the same weekend/holiday schedules as when I was working.  Second, as has been said, I have no problem being a retired guy sitting on the porch with my feet up without a care in the world.  That affects my motivation to hook up, tow and launch my 21 foot boat by myself.  All the good water is over an hour away and some of the best water is on a river with a ramp that is difficult for solo launching.  As a result, I have been going with my buddy more than in my boat and now I have to drain the fuel, send the injectors out for cleaning and replace all the filters/impeller/water pump.  Finally, after working since I was 13 years old and now being 65, the transition from work to retirement was mentally difficult.  Don’t underestimate it.  

[ScottW]

2 hours ago, 813basstard said:

Financially, I can retire when I’m 237. 
Luckily I’m planning on hitting a scratch off which will set things in motion. Trade the wife in for a newer model, buy a boat that has more gadgets than the space station, increase my alcohol and fried food intake by 37% and play bad golf often…

 

I mean, I don’t see any holes in this plan

I tried this plan too but my boss objected heartily! Did I mention my boss is my wife? ? Now we’re dragging a camper around Florida visiting family and friends with some fishing thrown in the mix. We’ll be up Tampa way (Dunedin) in ~2 weeks. April 26th I believe if all goes well. We’re traveling around coastal Florida and are in Jax now.

1 hour ago, Jar11591 said:

Yeah. The number one reason I work for myself now. When I’ve worked with other people it was all incompetence, weird cliques and shameless backstabbing and brown nosing, high school level drama. Full grown adults wanting to physically fight each other. It scorned me. That plus my natural introversion makes me have no interest in the work place socialization. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve made real, genuine friends at work but I don’t include that as part of the superficial fraternizing that happens in work settings. 

I worked in the printing industry for around 40 years and witnessed all of the above. Made me wonder what kind of children I was working with. At least the machines never wanted to ‘fight’ or give me a lot of lip. If they did I’d just add more grease! ?

48 minutes ago, Tennessee Boy said:

You nailed it.

 

In seven days I will have been retired for one year.   I’ve been very busy.  I fish a lot but not as much as I thought I would.  I didn’t realize that the weather would join forces with other things in life to keep me off the water as much as possible.

Just passed my 1 year anniversary end of March. Congrats!

 

Oh yeah, the topic…yes, I try to fish as often as I can. It settles me down and I find it relaxing. Best medicine I ever took!

[Bankc]

4 minutes ago, Darth-Baiter said:

 we as a species thrive with social contacts. I believe it to my core.

Everyone's different.  Sometimes, I think it's hard for us to see that.  We tend to view our personal needs as basic or fundamental, and therefor want to extrapolate that to society at large.  But just because something is critical to our wellbeing, doesn't mean it's even helpful to someone else's.  

 

Take the recent pandemic as an example.  I know a lot of people who experienced great distress by not being able to get out in large social groups.  But for people like my wife and I, it was a blessing to not have to participate in all of that stuff. 

 

So while extroverts will look at people like my wife and me and think it's sad that we don't have more friends or get out more, we tend to think it's sad how many extroverts rely on others to make themselves happy or to give their lives fulfillment and meaning.  But the truth is, we're all just different people with different needs.  No one's right or wrong, and people different from us aren't missing out.  

[Darth-Baiter]

1 minute ago, Bankc said:

Everyone's different.  Sometimes, I think it's hard for us to see that.  We tend to view our personal needs as basic or fundamental, and therefor want to extrapolate that to society at large.  But just because something is critical to our wellbeing, doesn't mean it's even helpful to someone else's.  

 

Take the recent pandemic as an example.  I know a lot of people who experienced great distress by not being able to get out in large social groups.  But for people like my wife and I, it was a blessing to not have to participate in all of that stuff. 

 

So while extroverts will look at people like my wife and me and think it's sad that we don't have more friends or get out more, we tend to think it's sad how many extroverts rely on others to make themselves happy or to give their lives fulfillment and meaning.  But the truth is, we're all just different people with different needs.  No one's right or wrong, and people different from us aren't missing out.  

nah..  I get it.  

 

I was only voicing my views which are all I really know.  the coolest thing ever is that like-minds usually find each other.   my new fishing buds are all a bunch of showboater social types.  

[Captain Phil]

Except for a short time in the beginning of my career, I have always been self employed as I could never get my head around working to make someone else rich.  I retired twice.  The first time was in my fifties when I sold a business I started in my twenties.  My wife worked in my business as well, so she retired with me.   We both missed having something worthwhile to do.   I got involved in tournament fishing practically full time.  To help with expenses, I got my Captain's license and started guiding.  That is the worst way to make a living I ever attempted.  I could write a book on that experience alone.  At the same time, my wife got her real estate license and started selling houses.  One day, a buyer asked her about lakes and she invited me to sit in to answer questions.  I had fished every lake and coastline in Florida, which evidently made me somewhat of a local authority.  She closed her first lakefront home for $1.4 million dollars.  After that, I worked with her on every waterfront property prospect she had.  After 15 years and 250 homes, we retired again.

 

Be careful what you wish for.  Doing nothing may not be what you want.  Retirement is a great chance to reevaluate what you are doing with your life.  You are never too old to have dreams and you are mostly likely better able to make them a reality.

[Bird]

Been retired for over 3 years and have been thoroughly enjoying it.

I was a workaholic, working 6 / 10hr days the last 15 years that I worked.

 

Wife begged repeatedly that I retire and can say with certainty DON'T MISS IT A BIT.

I fish every Monday, Tuesday and most Thursdays by myself mostly. My longtime fishing partner is battling health issues.

 

Only advice........ your health should be top priority.

 

 

 

[scaleface]

I retired at the end of 2021 and fish about the same . I plan on fishing more it just never works out that way .

[Captain Phil]

34 minutes ago, Bird said:

I fish every Monday, Tuesday and most Thursdays by myself mostly. My longtime fishing partner is battling health issues.   Only advice........ your health should be top priority.

 

This is a bigger problem than you would think.  All of my fishing buddies are either dead or too weak or old to fish.  It's hard to find someone who wants to fish like I do.  Most old guys like me are riding around in pontoon boats.   I can launch my boat and fish as well as I ever did.  What I have a problem with is loading the boat by myself.  Climbing in and out of a boat at the ramp is risky.   I have steps on my trailer, but it is difficult at times. Lately my wife meets me at the ramp and drives me out.  Some day I guess I'll have to hire a fishing assistant?  ?

[Mobasser]

Ive been retired since 2021. I do help a friend with a general.contracting business 2 days per week.                             I think I fish about the same as I did when I was working full time. One benefit of being retired is, I can often fish on a Wednesday or another week day. Far less folks on the lake. The party crowd comes on Saturdays, and makes way too much noise.

[crypt]

not retired............just tired......will fish all the time when I do though.......

[throttleplate]

4 hours ago, 813basstard said:

Financially, I can retire when I’m 237. 
Luckily I’m planning on hitting a scratch off which will set things in motion. Trade the wife in for a newer model, buy a boat that has more gadgets than the space station, increase my alcohol and fried food intake by 37% and play bad golf often…

 

I mean, I don’t see any holes in this plan

[Catt]

2 hours ago, TOXIC said:

I have no problem being a retired guy sitting on the porch with my feet up without a care in the world.  

 

 

[Basseditor]

I've been retired for just over a year. I fish less now than ever. What I dislike are the two hour drives to the lakes round me. I wish I could afford a lake house so I could just go for a few hours.

 

My wife doesn't like that I go alone, so she insists on going but she doesn't like fishing. She just reads or spends time on her phone. I'm capable of handling being alone but with several major surgeries in the past, she thinks I'll keel over at any time. 

 

I also have 9 grandsons who I enjoy being around. I take them out, but I can really only take one or two at a time in order to give them a better experience. (For them and me.) But they are too young to help me with the boat so my wife has to go too.

 

I've spent an inordinate amount of time tinkering with my boat. All new components, electronics, etc. I really enjoy that. 

 

My family wants me to sell some of my stuff. They don't seem to want it. I still hang on to hundreds of rods and reels — plus, totes full of new-in-the box/bags of crank baits and plastics. Many of these are expensive items that still have great value and are hard to find.

[lazeebum]

I retired in 2020 at the age of 60.  I don't regret it one bit.  I fish a couple of times per week.  My fishing buddy has a cattle farm, and I help with that some.  I don't fish as much as I thought I would, but more than when I was employed.

[Bankbeater]

4 hours ago, Jar11591 said:

Yeah. The number one reason I work for myself now. When I’ve worked with other people it was all incompetence, weird cliques and shameless backstabbing and brown nosing, high school level drama. Full grown adults wanting to physically fight each other. It scorned me. That plus my natural introversion makes me have no interest in the work place socialization. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve made real, genuine friends at work but I don’t include that as part of the superficial fraternizing that happens in work settings. 

Dang.  It sounds like my place of employment. 

I'm a few years away from retiring.  I won't miss stroking egos all day, or holding my tongue.  As far as fishing goes, I may get out on the water more or I may not.  I will for certain be able to pick the time and water I will fish without having to keep track of the time.

[ike8120]

I am in my first full week of retirment, doing the things that I put off, main thing is I can fish when I want to and don't have to worry about the weekend crowds.

 

[scaleface]

31 minutes ago, ike8120 said:

and don't have to worry about the weekend crowds.

There you go. 

[steve carpenter]

Worked a high pressure job and retired end of 2013. Now 75 yoa. First 6 months I was lost. Then became involved in my community, travel trailer and fishing. Health issues with mn wife and myself slowed that way down, Try to develop a plan for the extra time you will have. Working out helped give me the strength do the things I desire. Think you always need to find ways to stimulate and grow or you will go backwards. Aging is not for the weak. So be strong

[Log Catcher]

I have been retired for eight years. I try to go fishing once a week. Stay home in the winter. I like fishing through the week and not having to fight the weekend crowd. The way this year is going to go I will be lucky if I get to fish much at all.