Explaining To The Girlfriend!

[S Hovanec]

i had to buy her a rod that she liked.

I made the mistake of building her one! It's been downhill since.

[msolorio]

my gf doesnt quite get why i love fishing so much but shes very supportive of me doin it n wantin to try to do it for a living. that being said, i never ever ever take her with me when i go to tackle shops cus i know shell complain shes bored, look at the prices of some items n not really flip out but have an opinion, or ask "do u really need that?" answer being yes i do, please dont start =) second i never telll her when i buy tackle or how much i paid for the said tackle. when she does see the total on some reciepts n gives me crap i tell her, i bust my butt for the money i have, my bills r paid, theres gas in the truck, therefore i will spend my money n however much of my money on whatever i want when i want simple as that. shes not really an outdoorsie type of girl so shell never understand how i grew up n why i enjoy some of the things i do just like i dont understand why she loves shopping at the mall n spending the amount of money she does on clothes n other items shes gonna us for a month n forget about but hey thats women. all this bein said, its ur money, ur passionate about the great, amazing sport of bass fishing, shes not ur wife therefore has no say in what u buy or how much u spend so tell her to chill n get ready to see u spend more =)

[NorcalBassin]

Wow HH... that was a great response. Thanks for taking the time to enlighten us a bit.

[K_Mac]

A very interesting and informative thread.

I have been married to the same women for 35 years also. She likes to fish nearly as much as I do, and often outfishes me. She also understands that an occasional fishing trip with a buddy or a weekend trip with the guys is a necessary part of my mental health program. She is far more patient than I am, as shown by her not throwing me out years ago. We both enjoy a trip to Bass Pro and treat it as a date. We have more than once spent more on gas and lunch than tackle, other times we have spent a bundle. We have a great time either way.

Now on topic, I will say that money issues probably cause more grief in relationships than any other. This is not based on any scientific study, just my own experience and observation. It took my wife and I several years to learn we had to work together as a team when it came to how we spent our money, and it is an issue that we have to revisit from time to time. It is worth the effort.

As our very smart ladies have pointed out, women are complex creatures. A smart women who is an equal partner is a wonderful thing. She has strengths in areas where I have blind spots, and we are better together. I learned a long time ago when I treat my wife as I should, I am rewarded many times over. Just my thoughts. Good luck.

[mikeeasttn]

Thanks HH. That post is going to help me alot. Once again thanks for post.

[Triton21]

From day one dating in high school I told every girlfriend I FISH & HUNT and if you can't deal with that now is the the time to say so. I kicked many to the curb over the years. I am 68 years old and married to a woman who understands my passion and knows I love her dearly. You have to do what is right for you or you will never be happy.

Kelley

[RyneB]

When i first met my wife, i talked about fishing a lot. She admitted to me the other day that she just thought i did it every so often and was more of a hobby. When we moved in together she realized it was a passion. She says she only gets upset because she doesnt have a passion for anything like I do fishing. Me paying all the bills while she pays for nothing helps her deal with me spending money on fishing gear. As long as you can afford to put food on the table, roof over your head, and gas in the vehicle. I feel you can spend as much as you want on whatever you want. Fishing gear she deals with, i accumulate quite a bit of guns, that she doesnt understand. Cant win em all i guess.

[redboat]

A very interesting and informative thread.

I have been married to the same women for 35 years also. She likes to fish nearly as much as I do, and often outfishes me.

So, couple years ago I was scheduled to fish in a end of Jan tourney on a power plant lake, water is 90 degrees on the discharge side and cools off as you go around it. I convinced the wife to go with me to prefish.

We spend three days seeing all kinds of bass (the water was chrystal clear) but not even a nibble. I'd thrown everything in the tackle box.

So it was 3 Pm the last day, was about to bag it. She was bored, was throwing a wacky rigged Senko on 6 lb P-Line flouro on her little spinning rig. Instead of letting it settle to the bottom then twitch it she was jsut throwing it out, reeling it back in. Dang thing was running on the surface.

I was pretty frustrated; this was about the last straw! I yelled at her, "Cut it out already; you KNOW you won't catch anything fishing like that!!!"

That was when the bass hit. She yelled, "ohmyGodIgottafish!!". Fortunately (we were in heavy hydrilla) the bass swam parallel to the boat, heading for open water no doubt. She was able to get her next to the boat; I reached down, spooked the fish which took off under the boat. Wife's reel was howling as the drag ran out.

She cranked the bass back under the boat; this time i tried a net - same thing. Happened three more times before I was able to net the bass, bigest dang fish I ever saw; her eyes must have been big as half dollars. We weighed it: 10 lb, 6 oz. Caught on 6 lb P-Line. Took a couple pics with the cell phone and released her. One of the pics is now my wife's Facebook picture.

Lessons I learned:

(1) I've used nothing but PLine since. I still string the wife's spinning rigs with 6 lb. I use heavier line, 10 lb on spinners, 12 or 15 on baitcasters;

(2) When I see something I just KNOW isn't gonna work I keep my mouth shut;

(3) Now the wife wants to go fishing every Martin Luther king day on that same lake, which is fine with me;

(4) Three inch wacky rigged Senkos may be a "girl bait" but you can dang sure catch a big fish on 'em!

[K_Mac]

Redboat, it used to be that she would almost always catch greater numbers and I would catch the bigger fish, That is no longer the case. I have to stay focused while fishing with her or she will whoop me in numbers and catch the biggest fish. I grumble when this happens, but the truth is when I'm fishing with her I get as much joy from her catching a nice fish as I do catching one. Do not tell her though, I like to whine when it happens. Now if she catches a 10-6, which would be a solid 3 lbs bigger than my PB and 4 lbs bigger than hers, it would be big deal. I would be jealous but I would try to be gracious about it.

I use 6# P-Line CXX on all of our spinning gear. It works well also.

[redboat]

I use 6# P-Line CXX on all of our spinning gear. It works well also.

Seems to have better knot strength. Or maybe I just don't know how to tie knots - whatever. I use 100% flouro on the spinning rigs and 12 lb 100% flouro on two of my baitcasters; CXX on the other two. The flouro works well on the baitcasters, makes a good crankbait rig, doesn't seem to backlash as often as some other flouros I've tried.

Truthfully, I was almost as excited as she was to catch that huge bass. It hung halfway out of the net when I finally got it netted.

I usually outfish the wife in numbers and weight, especially since for the last three years she'll only fish wacky rigged Senkos. When those don't work she doesn't catch anything but I can't blame her for staying with them. If she starts catching 'em on her Senkos I switch to them also. I even occasionally drag the Senko across the surface.

I love my wife - only female I know who can actually back a boat trailer down the ramp.

[J Francho]

You can be real sloppy with your knots using CXX. It's pretty forgiving, as long as you wet the line. It'll also take simple knots well, like a plain old cinch knot. Whatever it lacks in suppleness, it makes up in strength in other areas.

[redboat]

I'm learning more about knots, trying to get better. I've used Palomar knot pretty much exclusively for the last few years but have been experimenting with some others, especially Rapala knot for Pop-Rs. I may try that one for crankbaits, see how it works.

I always wet the line, and try to only pull the tag end for the Palomar. Any tips you or anyone else can give would be much appreciated.

P-Line is awesome. I gave my fishing buddy I.M HaungUp all the other line I'd accumulated. I get a kick put of listening to him cuss when he gets a backlash or breaks off a brand new crankbait.

[scbassin]

HappyHappa, that was a good read, but the way I see it is they are not married & she on him about his money. What happens if they get married & it becomes shared money? He will be toast. Me I am out of there before it gets expensive later.

[redboat]

From day one dating in high school I told every girlfriend I FISH & HUNT and if you can't deal with that now is the the time to say so. I kicked many to the curb over the years. I am 68 years old and married to a woman who understands my passion and knows I love her dearly. You have to do what is right for you or you will never be happy.

Kelley

My ex wife's grandpa was 93 when he passed, was married for 70 years to the same woman. Just before he died he told me they'd never had an argument in all that time. When I asked him to explain his secret, he told me about the day they got married.

He had a wagon and mule; they rode to his farm in that after the ceremony. Suddenly the mule stopped. He got out, walked around, looked the mule in the eye, and said, "That's one."

The mule started back up but stopped again in a few minutes. He got off, walked around, looked him in the eye and said, "That's two."

Well, sure enough, it wasn't long before the mule stopped again. Grandpa got out, pulled out his shotgun, and shot the mule in the head. He fell over dead. His new wife said, "Hey, you shouldn't have done that!"

He looked at her and said, "That's one."

[MrsTomustang]

Haha I got an A in that class but I don't think I could have passed "The female psyche 101"

Thought you may appreciate that.. haha

Now, my young educated friend, let's go back to the comment on law of diminishing returns and I believe you have your 'Eureka!' Moment.

[kms399]

wife used to give me crap about how much I spend on hunting and fishing till I started pointing out all my buddies going out to bars and blowing $100 a night on drinks and games! suddenly a $70 spinning reel that I will use for 5 years doesn't seem like such a big deal. I haven't been in a bar in probably 6 years. my hobbies keep me drinking at home lol

[Raider Nation Fisher]

700 on fishing gear over the course of the summer ain't nothing. Heck I used to spend more than that in a month just partying in college. Probably has a lot to do with why I was asked to leave. However seeing as how I dont party or do much of anything aside from fish and shoot anymore. My wife pretty much leaves me alone about how much I spend on my fishing. At the same time though it helps to be reasonable and not break the bank on what you buy. Basically its all about compromise. She has her hobby and I have mine. We don't spend more than what we can afford and everything works out fine.

I can't get my wife to fish with me, try as I might. However she ALWAYS shoots with me. Girl is scary good with any form of handgun or assault rifle. She isn't worth a flip with a scoped rifle, but she really isn't to interested in learning how to shoot and compensate with one. But she knocks holes in a quarter at fifty yards with her AK47 with iron sites. I remember the first time we ever went to the range. I had bought her a .22 target pistol so as not to scare her away from the sport. After about twenty minutes she got bored with it, and grabbed up my Glock .45. Ol girl started going to town on some silluettes with it. She was hitting 3in groups at 25 yards. It was her first experience with firearms. We were getting ready to leave and I had set up one more target and was calling shots out to her. She shot a smiley face on it then said this is my last round watch where I put it. Girl drilled that target dead center in the lower region. We still have that target upstairs. That range trip was the moment I knew that I had found and married not only the perfect woman, but also my best friend.

[jojo&laken]

Well i travel for a living and when i come home i like to fish so you can imagine the amount of profanity wy wife uses. Everybody is right they will never like it unless your KVD or somebody that brings home 100,000 grand a week or whatever it is but if you can get on her nerves without making her mad she will tell you to go or you can do it the normal way and earn some brownie points

[urp]

1st tell her you're going to assign her a corner then tell her it's her business when she wants to pick herself up out of it.