I think it is a fair bet during our pursuit for bass we will encounter a point in life where we are unable to designate time or resources to the endless quest for more and bigger bass, known as bass fishing interrupted. While there are many reasons for this interruption, the challenge becomes how we choose to maintain our sanity during a bass angler’s hiatus.
Bassius Interruptus happens for many reasons. Early in life, the interruption may be a need to focus on school requirements. Later on, it may be a period of time while performing military service. Of course, we cannot forget the most significant reason, marriage, children and the cost of maintaining the family. All these things are likely candidates for altering our bass angling lifestyle.
We encounter a multitude of situations during our life causing us to put away the rod and reel from time to time. Perhaps even sell the boat until other obligations are fulfilled. I think during these interruptions true anglers will find the call of the water doesn’t leave our soul. We may not be fishing, but mark my words, we will always lurk in the aisles of our local tackle store. True anglers will still pay attention each time we see a bass boat heading towards the lake.
So here is the deal. I am here to explain how quitting cold turkey is harmful to our psyche. While I understand life sometimes gets in the way, I encourage you to always keep at least one toe in the water. Don’t sell everything. Keep at least one rod and reel set up in a safe place. Take it out from time to time and cast around the yard or at a local park. This will help to chase away the bad juju from time to time. Face it, we cannot erase our memories of the time we were a bass angler. The fact is we may not be able to ply our sport for one reason or another, but I guarantee the angler virus is within us.
Someday it will flare up again, and we will be able to get back on the water. While it may be a long wait, we will quickly succumb to the call of the lake. Perhaps we can’t go fishing for health reasons or for reasons mentioned earlier, but we can keep in touch on the pages of Ultimate Bass. Just view a hiatus from bass fishing as a temporary condition. Understand someday in the future we will be back on the water with a zeal we once felt when we were a beginning angler instead of just another recovering bass addict.
My personal attachment to bass fishing has had to endure several such interruptions. Military service was one and job responsibilities were another. Since my spouse is also a bass angler, the family never stopped me from fishing. Mostly it was job-related and the pursuit of a career. Then the creation of a small business drove over 20 years of absence from the sport. I can truthfully say not once did I forget about bass fishing. It was always there even if it was only a once a year vacation to a Canadian fishing lodge. Even during our camping days, I chose a campsite at a place where I could fish a little bit. It turned out to be enough to keep the bass angling juices flowing. Unfortunately, it took a couple of significant medical issues to make me sit up and notice there is more to life than working. I have been retired now for ten years, and when folks ask me what I am doing in my retired life, I am happy to say I go fishing.
Now if you recall, I advised keeping one fishing set up in the closet. Well here is the good stuff. When returning to fishing after a long layoff, we get to buy all new stuff. Don’t worry, the bait monkey will remember our name and will be prepared to equip us with all of the latest doodads to make reentry into the angling world as productive as possible. Heck, I still have all the old stuff from prior years that went quiet during the hiatus. For some reason, I can’t let it go, and it has become a memorial to years past and is becoming the hoarding legend of my life.
Fish ON!
Bud Kennedy
Don’t miss out on all of Bud’s great reads in his blog Fish ON!
