Greetings all
I wanted to introduce myself before diving into the pool, soto speak. Please accept my apology if I?ve placed this introduction in thewrong location.
My name is Roger and I am an addict. This is the point whereyou all respond "Hi Roger". Ten yearsago I was a tournament bass angler. A pretty fair one, if I do say so myself. Like most tournament anglers I suffered from an insatiable appetite for fiberglass, horsepower and electronics. Remarkably the funds required to support that habit would buy a rather nice house in most parts of the country. But I'm in recovery now. I was introduced to fly angling and have been cleanand sober, with respect to competition fishing ever since.
My moment of clarityarrived one morning in late February as I was preparing for a three day outing of pre-fishing for the season opener tournament. To make a long story short, I succumbed to the stress of the competition and in fit of anger said some very ugly things to my wife over a rather trivial matter, having to do with the location of myrain gear. After three days of guilty reflection and an embarrassing performance on the water, I came to the conclusion that I was no longer angling because I enjoyed angling, I was simply competing. Angling had become work, fishing had become mechanical. My passion for the sport turned to passion for equipment,trophies, sponsors and the almighty payout. Moreover, I was spending more time preparing to fish, and traveling to fish than actual fishing. . Purely by chance someone introduced me to the fly rod and thus began my recovery.
Today my 50K bass rig has been stripped of power poles,trolling motors and the electronics that rival those of the lunar module and replaced with a polling platform, mercury thermometer on 3 feet of backing, and a stripping basket where my casting chair used to reside. I will admit to falling off the wagon once when I replaced the 225HP outboard with a 90HP saltwater model so I can access the flats along the Gulf Coast for Specks and RedFish, though I haven't had it in the water in nearly a year. Aside from that I'm clean. My meat sticks (casting rigs) now serve as excellent stakes for the wife's tomatoes and beans. The spinning rods and reels have been donated to theneighbor's kids along with enough soft plastics and balsa lures to fill a seabag. The electronics were sold and the proceeds used to purchase two quality but modestly priced rods and four reels, two for salt water.
These days I can be found along the creeks of northwest Alabama. Everything I use fits in a backpack behind the seat of my truck. I've neverlooked back. I've never enjoyed fishing more and my wife now joins me every outing. Which is the perfect segue to my final point, abeit a bit crass. Is it just me or has anyone else noticed how fetching women look in neoprene waders?
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