Withdrawals from (not) fishing.

[Darth-Baiter]

it's been a minute since i have fished.  my inlaws came to visit from Taipei.  weekends are all about shuttling them around, trying to show them a great time.  my two main fishing partners..one is a school teacher on summer break, and the other is retired.  so they have been having the opposite life.  they fish a lot.  ahhah

 

i have organized my baits, lubed reels, respooled a few.  ordered and restocked.  

 

i live in land of mostly good weather, so i fish year round.  i am JONESING to go!!  i get back from a trip with Inlaws next saturday.  i think, i hope, i pray..i can go the following sunday.   you winterland people, i feel for you all over the long frozen winter. i think bare minimum, i need a fix at least once a month.  bare minimum.

 

you?  i am in the final push of inlaw time.  i can do it.  i LOVE them dearly, so that helps.    its not like time with my own mother.  

[Pat Brown]

Never a fan of obligations that cut into fishing time but it's a part of life and we learn to accept it.

 

Also it makes the fishing that much sweeter when it comes back!

 

I also like to think I'm giving the fish a little break and they'll bite that much better when I come back.

 

Enjoy your family time and get ready for a broken arm and a bent rod when you get back to your water.

[Jar11591]

I definitely suffer from withdrawal due to not fishing. I get antsy and irritable and start to not be able to focus on anything but sticking fish. I need to go at least once a week from April to December if I want to keep the withdrawal at bay. During the winter I go crazy. Bass are my drug of choice and they’ve got me by the cajones.

[Darth-Baiter]

@Pat Brown  thanks PB!!

 

i will order a rod as soon as i get internet coming into port..and a reel from Japan.  time to get serious.  those fish never catch themselves.

[gim]

5 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

Never a fan of obligations that cut into fishing time but it's a part of life and we learn to accept it.

That's life for most of us.  For the ones that are lucky enough to already be retired...good for you.  I know there's a fair number of them here.

 

Work, families, houses, cleaning, pets...they're man made prisons.  Some days I wish I could go back in time to when I was single and just live the dream again.

[Darth-Baiter]

Gimrus.  great/interesting point.  my brother and his very long time GF parted ways.

 

he was bummed for about 2 weeks, and then he hit the ground running.  dolled up his bass boat, bought a Hobie kayak, doing trips.  he said the money he saved by going single was profound.  hahhaha..   the guy, hunts, fishes and dates new women.    he is not mad about his life choices.  

[gim]

3 minutes ago, Darth-Baiter said:

he is not mad about his life choices.  

I'm not either.  Its the path that I've chosen, whether by choice or by default, and I have to live with it now, as do others.  My health, family, and job are all important to me too.  Would I have made a different decision about some of these if I could go back?  Most certainly.  I think many of us would.

 

I try to fish at least once a week, and most of the time I'm able to do that.  So I feel pretty fortunate.

[Jar11591]

11 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Some days I wish I could go back in time to when I was single and just live the dream again.

Would I trade the life I have now to go back to this? Never. But I’d be lying if I said it doesn’t cross my mind every single day, all the fishing time and other free time without so many obligations I could have if I went back to my early 20s when I would fish, play, or work however and whenever I wanted without worrying about crap else. 

[gim]

1 minute ago, Jar11591 said:

without worrying about shite else. 

I hear ya.  Those wannabe beavers don't stand a chance.  #ghilliesuit

[Darth-Baiter]

i know what you two meant.

 

i LOVE my wife and i whisper a thankyou daily to life for placing her in my life.  but i would be lying if i didnt sometimes wonder, "What if?"

 

but i wouldnt change a thing.  my wife thinks my fishing is a super healthy outlet for life stresses.  at least she does.  after i order the Megabass P5, maybe not so much

[TOXIC]

You wanna know how to ruin your love of fishing? Make it your job.  Once I started guiding and had to fish in all conditions and feel the pressure of putting clients on fish day after day regardless of their skill level, it became more work than fun.  Luckily I spend much more time fun fishing now and taking trips to new bodies of water has reset the fun flame more. 

[Darth-Baiter]

funny off topic.

 

fishing, i have met plenty of people skirting parental responsibilties.  one time, my wife's friend was so mad at me. she wouldnt talk to me.  i finally found out thru my wife that she was really mad at her husband.  WHO was fishing with me during his daughters dance recital.  he blew it off to go fishing.  i just got caught in the crossfire..guilty by association.  

 

family first folks.  hahha...  my bud is doomed.  once the kids go to college, his life is about to get really lonely.  (i heard)

@TOXIC  Truth!!   i would never use fishing as income.  nope.

 

being an engineer ruined my love of math. (sarcasm! ) 

[Mobasser]

I'm retired, but am very busy also. I set aside days to fish, then always go on those days. Darth, enjoy your family time, you'll be back out there soon enough. My dad would say, family, job, then fishing.

[TnRiver46]

My mother in law just left our place to go back home. I’ll be fishing this evening after work, you can bet your bottom dollar. And yes @Darth-Baiter, people still say bet your bottom dollar 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

2 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

My mother in law just left our place to go back home. I’ll be fishing this evening after work, you can bet your bottom dollar. And yes @Darth-Baiter, people still say bet your bottom dollar 

I say it weekly seemingly 

[TOXIC]

13 minutes ago, Darth-Baiter said:

Truth!!   i would never use fishing as income.  nope.

I did it as a break from my real high stress government job traveling the country closing banks and planned on doing it full time in retirement.  I’m now retired and find that traveling and fishing new bodies of water or returning to favorite bodies of water is much more fun.  I get drafted into guiding sometimes but not like I did in the past.  

[Kirtley Howe]

55 minutes ago, gimruis said:

That's life for most of us.  For the ones that are lucky enough to already be retired...good for you.  I know there's a fair number of them here.

 

Work, families, houses, cleaning, pets...they're man made prisons.  Some days I wish I could go back in time to when I was single and just live the dream again.

Unfortunately, being retired does not necessarily mean you have more time to fish. It just means that your obligations have changed. In my case, I fish LESS now that I am retired. My last career had me on the road a lot. My workday could start at 5am and run until 2pm, or start at 8am and run until 11am...or it could be totally overnight.....you get the idea. Anyway, being on the road and not wanting to sit in a hotel room or go to a bar, I went fishing a LOT before or after work.  Now that I am retired, my days are very much occupied by home projects, taking care of my wife, and going to doctor appointments and such. I am lucky if I get to fish for a couple of hours, a couple of times a week.

[Darth-Baiter]

@Kirtley Howe  awe...and you have all those finger lakes!!

[Jar11591]

One thing I’m learning as I get older is: you gotta make time for yourself, because it never gets made for you. 

[NorthernBasser]

1 hour ago, Darth-Baiter said:

it's been a minute since i have fished.  my inlaws came to visit from Taipei.  weekends are all about shuttling them around, trying to show them a great time.  my two main fishing partners..one is a school teacher on summer break, and the other is retired.  so they have been having the opposite life.  they fish a lot.  ahhah

 

i have organized my baits, lubed reels, respooled a few.  ordered and restocked.  

 

i live in land of mostly good weather, so i fish year round.  i am JONESING to go!!  i get back from a trip with Inlaws next saturday.  i think, i hope, i pray..i can go the following sunday.   you winterland people, i feel for you all over the long frozen winter. i think bare minimum, i need a fix at least once a month.  bare minimum.

 

you?  i am in the final push of inlaw time.  i can do it.  i LOVE them dearly, so that helps.    its not like time with my own mother.  

 

Going a week or two without being able to fish is hell.

 

You live in California where you can fish year 'round. I live in Wisconsin where I can't.

 

Therefore, I don't feel sorry for you. Not even a little. Not one iota. Not even in the slightest. Not even a tiiiiiny smidge!

 

 

[Kirtley Howe]

1 minute ago, Darth-Baiter said:

@Kirtley Howe  awe...and you have all those finger lakes!!

Yeah...and Lake Erie, Lake Onterio and the St. Lawrence River all within a reasonable drive.

[casts_by_fly]

I aim for once a week on the regular from April to August and in march/September I pick and choose when to go based on weather, ice, and deer hunting.  I also try to get a couple multi day weeks in there.  Next week I have a day off plus two afternoon appointments on the next two days.  All of which my wife has international work visitors and evening events.  That's a full day and two half days straight. The following weekend I'll get some time in also.  Any time I get some time to be on the water I'll take it.

 

As for being single again, if I were single I'd be poor.  My wife and I met in college in the same major.  We started working at the same company together and that opened so many opportunities to us.  Its allowed us to move all over the world and build some significant success in careers.  She's been a lot of the driver (and me the enabler).  If we hadn't met or stayed together and I ended up single, I'd have never done a quarter of the things I have and never gotten the career I have.  I'd be poor and who knows where.  And since I'm not the lead career in our house I can take jobs that are less time demanding to make more time for me (and taking care of the house, dogs, etc).

[Susky River Rat]

There is a time I fished almost everyday. As much as I love fishing it almost seemed like a job at that point. It does end up losing its value. It would be like catching double digit weight bass every outing it just reaches a point of ehhh. As great as that sounds that is the allure to it. The fact you can’t predict or do that.

[LrgmouthShad]

9 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

One thing I’m learning as I get older is: you gotta make time for yourself, because it never gets made for you. 

Yeah one of my….. maybe not pet peeves but just things I don’t understand….. is when people respond to the question “what did you do this weekend?” with “Absolutely nothing. I just chilled!” Like they are proud of it or something. And then they may ask somebody like me what I did, and I might respond for four weeks straight with “I went fishing.” And then they just get this look on their face like “Dude, you should get a life.” What do you mean? I actually have a hobby. Something that I enjoy. So much so that I can do it every weekend. 
 

Course I work a job now and I may come home tired but I try to do everything I can to make time for the weekend. Take care of chores during the week. Not the weekend

 

Rant over

[MN Fisher]

Given my family obligations, once a week is the most I can get out. If the weather is too stormy on my designated fishing day...I don't go out. Yes, I have Tuesdays as my fishing day, rest of the week is full up with errands and such, and given the boat traffic around here, the weekends are a no-go.