Great to hear from so many long time members who for the most part seem to be doing pretty well and best wishes to any who needs them!!! Aging isn ' always so easy but as they say "it sure beats the alternative"....
Jimmy, thanks for stopping in and the update. Hope you can stop in more often. You're definitely a CTF original, from way back in 2002.
One of my most distinct memories is you stopping by one of the first fishing shows I did in Hartford. You created a few poster boards using member pics from the site. Always appreciated that.
Registered: 01/29/02
Posts: 15340
Loc: South Carolina
Originally Posted By: earl bird
Blaine - do you still have any contact with the owner of the lodge where we stayed on God’s Lake in Canada in 2008? I believe that they are now out of business. I still remember our eventful trip there with my son and Buck. Weather conditions were unbelievable.
I'm still friends with Lee. He's running a tackle shop in Winnipeg and guiding year. round. The lodge needed a lot of work and as you saw, the logistics of getting materials that far north is big money. Lee sold the place a couple of years after we went and the group that bought it just couldn't make it work. Gods River Lodge and Elk Island survived the pandemic. One day I'll get back up there!
Registered: 01/29/02
Posts: 15340
Loc: South Carolina
Originally Posted By: jimmy
Hi Mitch and All.
Even when I have time to do something, I rarely have the energy and strength to do what I use to be able to do...
So it's not just me???? We have a product development team here that is 7 people. Part of their job description is to spend X number of hours on the water each month. The average age of the team is under 30... Great guys but damn... They run circles around me now. I look at them and think "when I was your age..."
Really loved time spent on CTF and made some lifelong friends here that I still keep in touch with often.
Times are different, Im sure not just for me, but for most of us as we get older. I now rarely have time to fish anymore. I use to be single with simple job and plenty of time to fish. I was also younger and had lots of energy. Now I have a kids, aging parents who need continual care, and a job with little flexibility and long commute. Even when I have time to do something, I rarely have the energy and strength to do what I use to be able to do.. I rarely get enough sleep. Im 35lbs over weight and its hard to even move around like I use to. Twenty years takes a toll and changes alot.
I do love my job and what I do. Im not unhappy, its just not fishing.
I also love having kids and being married, its also just not fishing.. Some balance would be nice but it wont happen.
Around the year 2010, I got to live around the country for a while. I spent a few years in Indiana and then was also close to RI even living ocean front for close to 6 years and catching fish right from my front door and got into kayak fishing. While living there, I could have probably buy a decent boat if I wanted, just didnt have the desire, really like the simplicity of the kayak and enjoying the beauty of the water and land rather than just focusing on fish. Perhaps it is some type of dementia
Times do change. People use facebook alot now for fishing groups, Im not one of them though.
jimmy
Jimmy it’s great to hear from you. I hope that you can get some free time to fish and do what you love. I’ll always remember striper fishing with you that night and showing me the 9” Storm Shad in Niantic. It also opened my eyes to the negative effect of internet lurkers and spot burners. You single handedly caused a run on those baits at Hilliers and Rivers End after your posts here. I’m very thankful to have spent time on the water with you and I wish you all the best!
Nice to see some folks pop in and update on their lives.
I'm still around and about to retire after 32+yrs with the fire department. Unfortunately I'm soon to have back surgery so I will miss out on the spring fishing and not be able to get out on my boat for awhile so please keep posting your reports for lurkers like me.