It’s February 27th and it’s still Wintertime, and we still have to get through March before its safe to say Spring is right around the corner. But I’m ready for it and wishing it comes sooner rather than later.
The picture above is of me from last Spring. I love wet wading a small stream chasing Velox smallmouth. I do other types of fishing; but stream fishing is what gets me fired up the most.
If the world was perfect and I didn’t have to worry about some low-life breaking into my vehicle, I’d stay on the river for days on end. Retirement is years away, but I already know how I’ll be spending my time. That’s where my hope lies…the future. I put up with useless meetings, silly policy directives and questionable management decisions because it pays the bills and grants me some retirement options. I fought the “silver handcuffs” as best I could…but with mouths to feed it was an inevitability.
I’m not complaining; I’m actually content with my decisions. But I always focus on the future and the freedom that I will hopefully have with it. All of life seems to be a compromise in one way or another. Friends say “I’m wishing my life away.” I say, “I’m wishing my work life away so I have time to live.”
Being surrounded by fishing tackle helps me stay focused, it calms me and fills me with purpose and more importantly, it fills me with hope. When I can’t fish I resort to sifting through old pictures and reading my fishing journals, looking at maps and making plans. I wonder if my father realizes how hooked I became on fishing? He got me into it, but I will never place blame on him, quite the opposite. I sometimes wonder if he felt the same way.
So I will “ride the ride” until I can get back out and do some serious fishing. It won’t be much longer…
Velox Seeker 