Fishing Bums

[headscan]

Thought this was a great read from Buster Wants to Fish - That Sounds Great but, How Will it Effect My Fishing? (warning, contains some of George Carlin's Seven Words)

[Heimdallr]

Thanks for posting that I really enjoyed it. Fishing is something that is particularly prone to the struggle between the uncompromising romantic and the secure realist.

[ÜberFly]

Since this in not "TV", I wouldn't worry about it!!

 

LoL

 

P

 

Thought this was a great read from Buster Wants to Fish - That Sounds Great but, How Will it Effect My Fishing? (warning, contains some of George Carlin's Seven Words)

 

[Taco]

Word

[Castuserraticus]

Brad121's reply summarizes life nicely. Heimdallr too.

[SilverDoctor]

Balance in life is the key, whatever your personal balance is. In the end an addiction is an addiction, and can be damaging, and a bum is a bum.

[Pipestoneflyguy]

Cool read- something I can relate to in regards to climbing and skiing ambitions - when I moved out here I was supposed to be on a three month working vacation but I loved the area so much I decided to leave behind a fiancee, a 60K a year factory job, two successfull small business's ( I was consulting on industrial fall safe systems and guiding rock climbing in Ontario, where I grew up) - This all meant a 90% (yeah, my 1st ski hill wage was $5.15 per hour LOL)loss of earnings at the time, for me the decision was very easy but it took years for my very disciplined straight-laced engineer father to understand, this decision bewildered and frustrated him almost to the same level as my decision to quit university and pursue rock climbing as a career three years previous to that.

 

Just recently I made a pretty signifigant career decision that sees me take a huge loss of income but allows me to give up responsibilities that really limited my ability to travel and thus my time on the water, my fishing mentor up here recently made a signifigant career decision as well and we are both committed to pursuing interests which facilitate flyfishing becoming, well,... a much more signifigant role in our life far beyond what one would call a hobby, this includes pursuing certifications and professional training over the next few years - for the first time in ten years, I have personal and professional ambition which actually excites me and returns an element of passion to that side of my life.

 

Unlike the first two occasions where I made a signifigant decision to put my personal interests above my professional, this time one aspect has changed, about 7 years ago my Parents made the journey our here and stayed a few weeks during that visit I went on a mission to share my passions in life with my father, we did everthing from going from route to route, discussing in great detail the particular challenges and events that occured during my alpine undertakings to getting him into his first fish on the fly (BTW Sundance, his first fish on the fly was a perch out of a trophy pike lake LOL)

 

Near the end of my fathers visit we were sitting on my deck have a beer watching the sun subside over the divide and my dad explained that he finally understood why I gave up so much to live here, and of even greater signifigance he also told me that he truly respected my ability NOT to make the responsible decision, and pursue a personal passion instead. Something his disciplined upbringing would ever allow him to do. I think I have found a degree of peace within my soul knowing that although my path may not have been what my father envisioned he is happy to see me content with my choices in life.

 

Being married and enjoying a degree of creature comforts in life means I will never meet that hardline definition of "trout-bum" and I'm ok with that - I think I can find something that falls inbetween the lines - As a result of the 2 year work assignment I just completed I have accumulated 17 weeks of paid leave, I plan to use a large portion of that flyfishing this summer, luckily I have an opportunity to enjoy the best of both worlds this summer. If I encounter any of you real-life trout bums on the river let me know, I'll gladly buy dinner, as I know what its like to live on Mr. Noodles for weeks at a time.

 

 

[Taco]

word #2

[reevesr1]

When my father was dying, I got a chance to spend a week with him a couple of months before he died. One of the things we talked about was how unfair I thought it was that now that he was finally ready to retire he was not going to get to enjoy it. He told me he never really planned on retiring. He just told everyone he was going to "next year" so they would leave him alone and quit asking. He said "what am I going to do, fish every day? I want fishing to remain something I do for recreation, not something I do because there is nothing else to do." That struck me, because I always assumed he would want to fish every day, he loved it so much. But the more I think about it, the more I like it. I really have no desire to fish every day. I like the ability to go whenever I feel like it, and there are times when I do go everyday. But I haven't been much over the last few months unlike some winters. And while I miss it, I have no burning desire to get out there. I know I will again. I guess I really don't envy trout bums at the end of the day. While it must work for them, it would never work for me.

 

Or maybe I'm just addicted to a steady income.

 

All that said, Pipes, I'll fish with ya anytime!

[duanec]

great post and thread.

always wished i'd caught the fever earlier in life and lived the bum/guide lifestyle for a spell, but having said that i'm now at a stage with kids/dough/stabilility/career to begin to get out there more, but in a different way with a different lens and different expectations.

does leaving work at 5 and heading straight to the river every evening in june for 11 days straight constitute as fishing bum behaviour?

hell i'll still sleep in my sled beside the river and spoon with the dog if that's what it takes, but not for weeks and weeks on end and not to the full expense of other obligations and responsibilities [and that's a choice], so no i couldn't go every day-in-day-out all the time. and i'm good with that. i've already started ticking off the bucket list and in the next few years i forsee more and more vacays will revolve somewhat around fishing destinations & trips...i'm hoping to evolve into one of those, ah, semi fishing bums i've run into in my day.