Steep odds, high stakes, big risks….
I’m not talking Vegas here. Just my normal outdoor activities these days. I don’t gamble with my money, but when it comes to my free time….Let em’ roll. Every once and a while I win. And when I win, It’s usually big (at least to me).
Let me explain. Every person that engages in fishing or hunting usually goes through the same process. Just the mere act of catching a fish or actually hitting your intended quarry gets you pumped. You are so excited you can’t wait to do it again. As you become more proficient, the task becomes easier. So easy, in fact that it is no longer exciting. It takes harder and more difficult tasks to bring the same amount of excitement you originally had. You’re like a junky. It takes more and more dope to get the same high. You’re always chasing that elusive euphoria of the first hit……
I’ve experienced it myself. Just catching fish was such a rush when I was young. Specie did not matter. Method did not matter. Just getting that wriggling, slimy finny prey under my control was the objective. As that started to grow old, I learned to tie files and fly fish. That added a whole new level of complexity to the task and it became exciting again. When that became easy, I started specializing in species. That made things a bit more difficult, and again….exciting.
Lately, I’ve taken it a step further. I’ve started chasing ghosts…
You know..spooks. Things that are so elusive, that even seeing them is questionable. And if you did, who would believe you? One of my ghosts have been native winter steelhead on the fly rod. Lets face it, steelhead fishing on the fly is a numbers game. The more casts you make, the better your odds of catching a fish. There just aren’t a lot of them , and to catch them requires covering a lot of water. Add in high water, cold water, poor ocean survival, logging, poaching, etc., etc…..and you get the point. They become a bit “ghost like” . Sometimes days, even weeks, can pass without a single strike. I’ve even learned to tell myself that as every day passes without success, my odds are getting BETTER! Yes, how perverted is that? The longer I go fishless, the luckier I am getting? “You catch anything today, Aaron?”
“Nope, but you wouldn’t believe how lucky I’m getting.” Ha!
I wish that thought process worked in other aspects of life. Maybe I can convince my wife that the less money we make, the richer we are getting!
I’m not talking Vegas here. Just my normal outdoor activities these days. I don’t gamble with my money, but when it comes to my free time….Let em’ roll. Every once and a while I win. And when I win, It’s usually big (at least to me).
Let me explain. Every person that engages in fishing or hunting usually goes through the same process. Just the mere act of catching a fish or actually hitting your intended quarry gets you pumped. You are so excited you can’t wait to do it again. As you become more proficient, the task becomes easier. So easy, in fact that it is no longer exciting. It takes harder and more difficult tasks to bring the same amount of excitement you originally had. You’re like a junky. It takes more and more dope to get the same high. You’re always chasing that elusive euphoria of the first hit……
I’ve experienced it myself. Just catching fish was such a rush when I was young. Specie did not matter. Method did not matter. Just getting that wriggling, slimy finny prey under my control was the objective. As that started to grow old, I learned to tie files and fly fish. That added a whole new level of complexity to the task and it became exciting again. When that became easy, I started specializing in species. That made things a bit more difficult, and again….exciting.
Lately, I’ve taken it a step further. I’ve started chasing ghosts…
You know..spooks. Things that are so elusive, that even seeing them is questionable. And if you did, who would believe you? One of my ghosts have been native winter steelhead on the fly rod. Lets face it, steelhead fishing on the fly is a numbers game. The more casts you make, the better your odds of catching a fish. There just aren’t a lot of them , and to catch them requires covering a lot of water. Add in high water, cold water, poor ocean survival, logging, poaching, etc., etc…..and you get the point. They become a bit “ghost like” . Sometimes days, even weeks, can pass without a single strike. I’ve even learned to tell myself that as every day passes without success, my odds are getting BETTER! Yes, how perverted is that? The longer I go fishless, the luckier I am getting? “You catch anything today, Aaron?”
“Nope, but you wouldn’t believe how lucky I’m getting.” Ha!
I wish that thought process worked in other aspects of life. Maybe I can convince my wife that the less money we make, the richer we are getting!
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