The blog begins

Back about 13 years ago my first summer internship with the state was being a creel clerk. Every day was spent going out on the water and counting fisherman and letting them elaborate on their fishing day. Back then I was 21 and fishing was my life and had been since I was 13. So that was not such a bad job. One thing that kept coming up though was the absence of fisherman and women in their mid 20’s to late 30’s. You would see kids fishing with their parents, the college student (such as myself), the retired guy or my favorite, the fisherman escaping his wife. Don’t laugh, people actually told me that. Every once in a while there would be someone in the absent age bracket, but it was not a common occurrence; like sightings of Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster. After some peering over past data, the results seemed to repeat themselves throughout the years. Why was this? Thankfully there were a few sportsman in the building where my office was who did not fish or hunt much anymore. After a bit of questioning it became apparent why people stopped fishing and hunting. Around that point in life most people set out to find careers, significant others and have children. With all of that comes more responsibility and less time to enjoy pastimes. To a 21 year old this was funny and there was often a lunch break that included fun was being poked at the "whipped married guy", but little did I know though what would happen to me.

At the age of 22 I became a college graduate and started my full time career in the state. Unfortunately counting fisherman was not in the job description anymore, but it was a stable job. Fishing was still a big part of my life, though not as big since my free time grew less with the career. Still, I was out on the water more time then not. Things were good but something was missing. My dating life was nothing really to talk about, a girl here and there but nothing that lasted too long and it would usually end over fishing. That was the norm for years until an email arrived that changed the game. Now dancing was always something I wanted to learn, so when an email came about a big dance going on at a local bar, it was a no brainer. After arriving I realized that it was a partner dance and that a free lesson was going on. Figuring that my cover had already been paid, might as well get my monies worth. Well the fun that was had that night coupled with the nice people that were there, made me want to pursue it more. Soon even less time was devoted to fishing and more towards dancing which led to a very solid dating life. Fishing became even less when my vacations started to be dancing ones. Just shy of a year, at the age of 25 turning 26 I met my future wife at a dance and fishing once again took a hit. My favorite pastime had become more distant from me but it never was completely gone. At the age of 31 I became a dad, the best day of my life and also the last time fishing would ever be more then the occasional short trip. For the next few years if I managed to get a half dozen trips a year, it was a lot. I became that guy on the other side of the lunch table.

Now at 34 my time to myself is still very limited. Between kids parties, keeping life alive with my wife and maintaining a home, there is a lot of responsibility going on. Still every once in a while I am able to go fishing and this is my blog, the thirty something fisherman.