Fish more often...

To be honest this will be a quick post only due to the circumstances, and for those that know me on a more personal basis, understand. So with time, or lack therof, I can't help but reflect on my family...after all, today my wife and I celebrate 7 years of matrimony. However, in addition to family, I'd be remorsed if I didn't mention that I love fishing, and my faceboook feed would validate that claim.  Its a constant reminder of what has shaped me as a man, and encourages me as to where I want to be in my angling career. So in a USO surrounded by soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines, i'll pass on one bit of advice...if you like to fish, do it more often, and with the ones you love.

I remember walking down to the pond on my families property in Kiln, MS with a Zebco 33 and two slices of Bunny bread to unleash an onslought on the local bream and bluegill population. Its funny because after 30 years I can still feel the moisture in my hand of what it took to make the perfect bread ball.  At the time, very few things mattered over the anticipation of  that little red and white cork slipping under the water seconds after it layed next to the dock piling. These actions, although simple, were the seeds sowed in a field of fishing ambition. I loved it, and that never waivered. As I grew older, bars and getting drunk with friends, were way less important than catching 50 trout with my dad. I got to admit, a few of the mornings were tougher than others, but a trout coming up to shake his head was way better than sleeping in, particularly when I knew I could be 'catching 'em." Other than academics college was an extension of high school, with little changing other than now living in Baton Rouge. I swear, everytime George Straight's song "Run" comes on

the radio, my brain immediatly associates that with my solo trips down LA 23 to our camp in Happy Jack. The cool fall air, and the full moon glistening over the orange groves, was a experience in itself, and more educational than any of my $200 textbooks. The light ground fog and the moon cast an ambiance unparralleled, as if it was guiding a 100 ton vessel to safe harbor. In other words, South Louisiana was my auditorium, in which I wrote the curriculum, and my test results were determined by how many bags of filets I brought back to my roomates at LSU.

Now having been in the Air Force for a decade, still little has changed, except I hope to instill the love of the outdoors in my children. Of course, I still have greater ambitions, but none greater than sharing the angling experience with my kids.
So as I prepare to depart to a place with no rods, reels or lures in sight...take it from me, fish and do it more often. No matter the cost or company, get it done. I used to have a No Fear shirt when I was a teenager and it said, "Fishing is Life, the rest is just details." Now throw your rods in the boat and put the battery charger on, and prepare to make everlasting memories...Trust me, you'll thank me later.

Tight Lines and God Bless!

Chris