So, a lot has gone down in my life since I've written anything of substance. It's all been voluntary, it all gone according to plan, and I think it's all been for the good. In the last couple of months, I've acquired and/or undertaken:
- New Teeth
- New Smile
- New Home
- New City
- New Job
- New Home Lake
Apparently, I've also acquired a New Attitude about day-to-day life and work, because in just the last few days my longest-term and closest friend verbally recognized my change for the better, and a new-but-trusted co-worker mentioned that he couldn't even imagine me wound up over work. I might even be starting to believe that my efforts towards multifaceted self-improvement might be working!
This is all reward enough, but let's explore how this isn't just about life and work, it's about fishing, too!
My new home lake might now be Lake St. Clair, and it's a large, shallow body of water. It gets rough and muddy, and my limited experience there indicates that neither of these is conducive to my bass fishing. The last weekend was Super Windy, out of many points on the compass, and Monday (my targeted day for fishing) was simply Less Windy. Given these conditions (and incorporating cost, lack of good intelligence, risk of failure, fear of failure, general lack of confidence and such), Old Steve wouldn't have undertaken a trip, even to a world-class fishery such as Lake St. Clair.
That's fine, as there are many other decent options available, but when one is so close to so many giant smallmouth bass, and the window on the availability of pre-spawn lunkers is closing, should not one who really cares about such things at least give it a shot? After all, the dream is valid, and there are no real consequences to failing; and so New Steve decided, What the heck? Why hold myself back? Let's go!
And so I did go! I came home, 13 hours later with a half-broken spine (figuratively, but descriptive) and one less tooth (literally.) I'd gotten two bass bites all day, the water was stained to muddy in my area of choice, and Lake St. Clair had beaten me into submission with wind and boat chop.
But it was a Good Day! It was a weekday fishing expedition, after all, and one of the two bass bites turned into a Master Angler giant, possibly one of my Top 2 or 3 smallmouths ever, and certainly the largest ever aboard Numenon.
But this wasn't even the best part of the day! The day was another learning experience for me, and I know I'll take the best of what I learned (locations, logistics, presentations, boat control) with me on future trips. I'm more prepared for whatever comes my way.
This is NOT a bad way to operate. It might be Kaizen, it might be Appreciative Inquiry, it might be just good luck, but it might become natural.
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| Work hard, be smart, do your best and enjoy some occasional good fortune! |
