In Which I Find Solace in Irish Poetry

I'm not a poet, but I may have some poetic tendencies.  I'm neither a trained philosopher nor writer, but I think and type.  I'm not a scholar in any of these fields, but I can appreciate those who are.

*****

This has been a long and surreal week.  And yet, it has had some high points.  These might as well be recognized. **

I've been visiting distant family.  Well, close family at a distance, actually.  This trip provided lots of time in the truck on a fairly loose schedule, alone with my thoughts.

On the morning of the first day, with close to 750 miles ahead of me for the day, I turned to the radio.  I quickly settled into an agreeable program on Michigan Public Radio.  It was entitled "On Being" ***, and while I was intrigued by the title, I stayed for the content.

The hostess interviewed a lauded Irish Poet (Michael Longley, about whom I was totally ignorant.)  Despite my ignorance, I couldn't help but admire the World View offered by this gentle man.

I'll not do these justice; but here are a few of the thoughts that were shared, in some cases with the twist that I added over the course of miles of highway:

Sanity and happiness reside in ordinary Small Things, so it is best to be present, aware and open. It could be Mr. Longley's wild orchids, but it could be appreciating a surprise freshwater drum on a hair jig, too.  It could be the morning's sunrise, but it could also be noticing the caress of warm soapy water as one does the daily dishes. It could be a memory of a past life, but it could be a shared, positive thought with whomever you next encounter.

Mr. Longley described the use of poetry to identify and describe the Core Essence of a situation, and the poem itself as the core essence of this description.  Go ahead, check out the header at the top of this page!  There's nothing in life more beautiful or meaningful (to me) as potentially recognizing the numenon of our being.  I'll be honest; I think this recognition begets love, whether it's romantic, familial or simply passion for a task or quest.

Once challenged to define poetry, Mr. Longley declared, "(I)f prose were a river; then poetry is a fountain."  That is, it provides form to function; and also function to form.  Shape and utility are inextricably intertwined; and this cannot help but be beautiful.  Without this connection, something is (at best) less than it could be; and (at worst) a wasteful distraction.  He further described poetry as "Care with words."  But I believe that he provided this with double meaning.  Of course, words are selected and presented carefully in poetry; but the real care is in the healing and compassion conveyed by sharing these words.

Mr. Longley opined that the Opposite of War is not necessarily Peace, so much as it is Civilization.  As I've tried to state elsewhere (here, for instance) there is nothing more human than protecting and supporting a civilized state.  With the current situations in Syria and Iraq, the Presidential election looming  and the pending anniversary of the Paris Bombings, I couldn't have agreed with him more.  

I found this solace before I even knew I needed it.  Because a few days after my trip began, unexpected election results "trumped" any direction or progress with my ruminations.  But that's okay, because I am a practiced thinker and I had already started the exploration of my philosophical beliefs.  I do know with great certainty that I'd rather be beaten than embrace the thoughts of an emboldened "friend", who literally thanked God for the opportunities currently afforded by Concealed Carry.  

*****

** I almost finished this post without including these!  I could start with the pleasure of finding a new (to me), substantive and interesting radio show; and "discovering" Mr. Longley.  Let's not overlook some home-cooked favorites and experiencing pride in hearing strangers praising my octogenarian, volunteering mother.  I completed a few chores, and I ate nothing but fried chicken and apple pie well into Mr. Trump's reign as President-Elect!  I spent more time with my brother and family than I have in years.  I met my nephew as a grown man, I took a road trip to Hammond's Fishing Center in Cumming, Georgia to look at the bait and day-dream, and I received a gift of a pair of Water Bugz planer boards.  It was a good trip!

*** Link to this episode of "On Being"

50 Shades of Green

There's so much I like about this picture, including the crisp fall lighting, a pretty decent weekday pike in hand, and a friendly photographer back in the boat after a long absence.    Cheers! to capturing these 50 Shades of Green!

Maine Musings

I recently returned from a trip to Maine; all the fishing details are here.  I rushed through capturing those so as not to lose them, but having done so, I can can definitively say that while they might accurately capture the fishing events, they fall short in capturing the true essence of the trip.  And that's what this entire blogging endeavor is all about!

That is perhaps best captured in my youngest daughter's pride and happiness with her new home at the college of her choosing.  That's why we had made the trip.  But the importance of the trip to me was also captured by individual moments that deserve to be noted:

• Completing a couple of hot and dirty tasks for those whom I care about;
• Noticing the distinct phosphorescence of the bay's water as I retrieved my lure on the darkest of the New Moon mornings;
• Catching my first Birthday and September Stripers;
• Exploring some new areas and finding new favorites;
• Being proud to leave my youngest daughter in her new community at 2 PM, but having my oldest daughter fall asleep in my arms by 4 PM as we watched a Red Sox game on TV;
• Sharing simple meals in beautiful settings; 
• Sharing fishing time with friends, old and new; and
• Quietly holding hands with A as we covered a couple of thousand miles in our safe, reliable vehicle.

And of course there was the fishing!  

These travels marked the end of the Raising Kids at Home portion of our lives and the commencement of Our Future.  Getting there will also be a long haul, but the real importance of this new journey will be embodied by the things I notice and appreciate along the way.  Let there be many!

Casco Bay

Brown Bass Road Trip

You can check out the specifics of my recent Brown Bass Road Trip here (should you so choose), but let me simply say that the act of fishing just leads to good things.  Whether it's being close to the home of potentially giant bass, recognizing the health of a vibrant lake, sharing meals with friends or just temporarily sharing an elevated lifestyle with the one you love, I am more likely to encounter these and many other good things when I am out fishing.

Private dock on a Northern Michigan lake; not bad, eh?

I've got a thing for brown bass.

I've got a thing for all bass!

Why else would I experience such sights, except that I am out chasing fish?

50,000 Hours

Please let me preface this with an acknowledgment that I have willingly subordinated my professional life to the needs of my immediate family and to my personal sense of life balance.  I need to be there for my kids, we've needed to share meals and talk, I need the flexibility to experience life and take advantage of unexpected developments, and I need to fish! My current job has been absolutely awesome in accommodating family life while providing just enough security and compensation that we've all had ample opportunities to partake in all of the above.  We've collectively benefited a great deal, and for that, I am truly thankful.

***

I am just a bit premature in claiming 50,000 hours at my current job, but I am close enough to legitimately reflect on this milestone.  And rest assured, if I were to include the hours from my previous, related job, I could clear the 50,000-hour bar with a wide margin to spare.

Let's simply assume familiarity with the common maxim that it takes 10,000 hours to truly master a skill.  Have I done so with my time at work?  Have I simply continually beaten a 40,000-hour, long-dead horse while coasting?  Have I refined my initially-honed skill?  Have I moved on to other skill(s)?   Have these other skills complemented the initial and subsequent skill(s)?  It's at least worth thinking about!

I've divided my experience here into very approximate five-year chunks and reflected on what might have dominated my efforts during that time.  Here's what I came up with: in many ways it reflects Simon Sinek's Golden Circle*, and my long journey towards peace with my work.  I'll admit, this journey that has become increasingly difficult for me to continue without consideration of some major changes. But simply going through this exercise has increased my understanding of the personal value of these 50,000 hours.


Chunk 1, Hours 0 to 10,000 (What? I)

Here I learned about my employment situation, the workplace rules and expectations.  I learned the nuts and bolts of my general program, the rules and physics of Air Pollution Control.  I continually got exposed to different scenarios, and I started developing some specific areas of expertise and personal style.  I learned from my mistakes, learned how to avoid the mistakes of others and to build on common successes.  Let's just say that this period was devoted to the development of Skill 1: Building the Necessary Foundation.

Chunk 2, Hours 10,000 to 20,000  (What? II)

Fortunately, I believe that I grew beyond simple mastery of the basic position.  Here I got increasingly involved with the implementation of a very specific program in support of general programmatic needs.  I had to work with many and varied co-workers, but my role was still largely as a doer and worker bee.   My scope of understanding became both broader (in general) and deeper (focused on the needs of this specific program.)  I ran with this program to the best of my abilities, and improvements were meaningful and measurable.  This program became the least of concerns for my management.  While this sounds like a desirable outcome, there is perhaps the real possibility of future, collective amnesia about the actual accomplishments achieved.  Let's just call Skill 2: Developing Specific Program Expertise.


Chunk 3, Hours 20,000 to 30,000  (How? I)

At this point, I had considerable experience and recognized expertise.  Now I had an opportunity to build on these by focusing  on programmatic effectiveness.  With a foundation of proven, historical effectiveness and a free rein from above, I was able to leverage various Outside Partnerships to address some pervasive, important programmatic issues.  Using Skill 3: Working Effectively with Others was actually a lot of fun!

Chunk 4, Hours 30,000 to 40,000  (How? II)

This period was probably simply dominated by too much to do with too few resources.  But with my independence came an opportunity to define, at least in part, my work priorities.  On a singularly important day early in this "chunk" I was exposed to a Customer Service model simply presented as "COKE".  The premise; Which is most important to effectively addressing a customer's needs; Conscientiousness? Openness?  Knowledge? or Empathy?  

I'm a pretty smart guy; I am even a scientist; I am an expert in a technical field; and at the start of the exercise, I knew that I brought Knowledge to the table.  That was the hammer I could wield.  From the start, I even thought that those other traits might just get in the way of the actual work of solving problems!  (No wonder he'd been brought in to speak with us!) But at the end of the exercise, I was convinced that Empathy (by which I mean recognizing the real humanity of the issue at hand and reacting in an appropriate, humane manner) was the answer to the fundamental question of effectively addressing another's needs.  At the very least, our presenter offered some fun and interesting anecdotes.  But his ideas are still with me; it really was a singular day for me.

Somewhat awakened to empathy and its two-way nature, I pretty quickly realized that I could not actually accomplish much without the significant help of others.  Moreover, they will only help if they've bought into my plans.  We needed to identify and share a deeper understanding of a common, accepted goal.  And dare I say, finding this common goal is a tremendous tool for earning trust from others; and that my code for honoring that trust demands sincere, mutual efforts to achieve that shared goal? I'm willing to summarize this period as Skill 4: Sharing a COKE.  

I may have just been growing up, but work and life became more than knowledge, expertise and Analytical Thinking.  It became more about just being a better, more effective person.  I certainly found that there is considerable freedom and joy in recognizing this as a legitimate function, especially when compared to being simply correct, perfect or accomplished.

Chunk 5, Hours 40,000 to 50,000  (Why?)

At about this point, I had clearly developed my unique professional perspective.  I have specific ideas about what is important, what can be changed, and what is best left alone.  But acceptance of this question Why? into the personal meaning of my work can either motivate or deflate.   When possible, I have utilized the question of Why? to help me prioritize my directed efforts and interests.  But I'm not sure my current employer or business unit has the luxury of examining Why? we do certain things or pursue certain goals.  Our collective myopia commands attention to immediate needs and rarely any farther.    Unfortunately, this is a rather important issue for me; after all, the answer to Why? ultimately defines the purpose of my work.  Without an acceptable purpose, I'll likely not ever be satisfied with my work.

Like many of my other less-than-light-hearted posts, this entry has simmered for quite a while.  Meanwhile, back in the office, my acceptance of my work has recently worn bare thin.  I've not much hope that an acceptable Why? will emerge locally; and so I've initiated several steps for some real (if only theoretically meaningful) change.  Perhaps as a result of actually taking these steps, I've recently had a moment of clarity: 

I have enough personal perspective to know that I am not defined by my work.  I have so many other interests and good things going on that I don't have to pigeon-hole my self-esteem in any such manner.  I am the positive sum of all my Relationships and Partnerships.  I am close to the heart of a small group of truly amazing folks.  I sometimes even influence them for the better of all.  I am fortunate to be near the crest of Maslow's Hierarchy; I've time and resources for leisurely thought and introspection.  I stand on the Shoulders of Giants with respect to what I know, the ease and technology of our modern life, and even the sweet functionality and performance of my beloved fishing gear.  

Bottom line, I've enough awareness to know that I've got it good and am more likely to share this goodness than to to take it from others.  And this has remarkably little to do with how I've spent the previous 40,000(+) hours.

Out of such a blurry rant, emerges my version of Skill 5: Creation of Meaningful Personal Focus.

I now know that I may not find that Focus at my current desk.  But I am okay with that; I think I can let myself relax a bit and go make it happen.  I don't need to fix things there.  There are plenty of other possibilities that deserve my attention.  If pursuing these can help develop my own version of Meaningful Focus, they will prove to be truly worthwhile endeavors. I should now be ready to take them on.  Time to start!

***

*Maybe any reader should just cut to the quick and google Mr. Sinek or his book "Start with Why", and save one's time. 

DT10

I was coming off a bit of a rusty rusty performance last time out, and I got off to an unusual start; I didn't prep the night before as I hemmed and hawed over whether to go bass or muskie fishing.  Eventually watching the Red Sox and sleep won out, so I found myself launching on Reeds Lake at the odd (for me) time of 9:30 AM.  Usually I am thinking about getting off the water by that time!

I'd committed myself to working on new patterns and locations, but I hedged my chances for success by starting with a Rapala DT10 crank bait along deep weed edges.  After all, I'd gotten hit a few times with this last week; I just hadn't executed any of these chances.

Green craw DT10

A solid 2.5-pounder ate the bait on my second cast.  Sometimes having such quick success 

is a Kiss of Death for the rest of the day, but occasionally it's just an indication of good things to come.  I continued to work offshore weed edges in about 8 to 12 feet of water, but it took a relocation to a smaller, less conspicuous hump to generate any more strikes.

This particular hump is often good for a single, large fish.  Sometimes nobody's home, but every so often this location coughs up a four to six-pounder.  Working the windward edge of this hump, I caught another solid fish, but what really got me juiced was the Mega-Bass that was excitedly swimming in with my hooked fish.  This was easily the largest bass I've ever seen in this lake; it was a true Michigan Giant.  I netted the 2+-pounder and noted the location of the lunker on the GPS.

Working my way around the hump, I caught a thick 3-pounder on the opposite side.  All the fish were hitting in the same type of water; offshore weed edges dropping from about 8 to 12 feet of water (and beyond.)  I was starting to get a solid pattern going!

Deep cranking provided a few more fatties to just over three pounds.

I couldn't leave this hump until I'd circled through the spot where I'd seen my lunker.   I ran into a short and fat, yet acrobatic, 4.84-pounder on the deep windward edge, but the fish I really wanted did not show herself again.  That was the only disappointment of the day.

4.84 pounds on the scale; but still not the bass I was looking for.  But this is a great anchor fish, any day on the water!

At this point I'd pretty much run out of weed-fringed humps, but I knew that a conspicuous submerged point dropping off into deep water might provide similar options for the bass.  It took a bit for me to find Bass Number 5 for the day, but when I found him (a barely legal keeper), I found a whole school of them.  I was able to barely cull once, but there wasn't much size to these guys.  Regardless, I had my limit before Noon, despite the late start.

After a photo session and releasing the bass, I moved to a new offshore area.  This seems to be an area of subtly raised hard bottom.  There's no obvious or dramatic relief, but there's a fairly extensive area between 13 and 17 feet of water, surrounded by the lake's basin of 20-23 feet of water.  I switched to a DT20 (this particular lure has taken both my largest bass and pike from this lake!), and it felt good to be grinding bottom and pulling up the occasional zebra mussel.  In a fairly short time, I missed a strike and then I caught a nice, bonus, approximate 30-inch deepwater pike.  This guy hit in 16 or 17 feet of water near the feature's edge.

GoPro Action!

A solid, bonus deep-water pike.

Not a bad day!  The rust is off!

Bucktail Bass -or- Hair Jig Payoff II

It took me over 30 years to catch my first striper, and it took almost another 20 for me to score one on the greatest, simplest and most versatile striper lure of all time; the humble, yet productive, bucktail.

4:30 AM EDT and all is well!

Of course, I just threw one for the first time while targeting stripers, and it really only took a few dozen casts for me to get bit.  I wish I could say this personally momentous event took place on one of the hair jigs I had crafted over the winter; but instead, I have to admit that I was throwing a nicely tied custom jig from The Tackle Shop in Portland, Maine.

This particular bass will forever remain etched in my memory for the cool, visual strike it provided.  I am accustomed to watching for my lure in the water during the retrieve, and soon after my slowly swimming jig came into view in the low morning light, this bass flashed up from the bottom and annihilated the bait.  She was probably within a rod's length when we connected, and I got to watch the entire strike and fight sequence unfold.  This healthy 26-incher was a perfect match for my gear in hand, too, and it was a pleasure to catch such a fish on a beautiful Maine morning!

5 AM and all is even better!

She might have thought it was a peanut bunker, or perhaps a finger-sized mackerel.  She hit hard, right at my feet.  All of the weekend's bass were thick and adorned with sea lice.

So, I somewhat successfully deployed a "new-to-me-in-this-place" tactic in a truly peaceful setting.  I had carefully selected, quality gear *** in hand, and I even caught a few other fish on this morning.  Some were larger, but none were quite as interesting or as satisfying as this particular bass.  What else could one ask for from a given morning, a long weekend road trip, or a winter spent daydreaming of (and preparing for) such things?


*** One of the pleasures (and potential frustrations) of fishing this spot is matching my tackle to the available bass.  While they have probably averaged about 24 or 25 inches (probably about six pounds) over the years, on any given day, the bites can come from micro-schoolies weighing in at a pound, or from unstoppable freight trains of unconfirmed size.  Moreover, my available tackle in Maine has always been a little limited and make-shift.  But with my increased saltwater fishing interests and participation over the last few years, I have purchased some high-quality saltwater reels and a couple of travel rods.  This day's set-up: the newest version of Shimano's Stradic 4000, spooled with 30-pound Momoi Diamond Braid; a heavy action, 7-foot Cabela's Fish Eagle 50 rod; 25-pound Seagar fluorocarbon leader;  and the 3/8-ounce sparse bucktail tipped with a 3-inch Lunker City shad body.  This was a fine delivery system that just felt good, at least to me!