Steve, I'm not sure how old you are but it sounds like male menopause from where I'm sitting. I wish I had friends to tell me where the fish are,consider yourself fortunate for a lot of reasons. I think you have come to the realization that your time has come and gone so put your feet up and enjoy the twilight of life at your own pace.I can tell you what motivates me are days like I had Monday with my oldest boy at the canal. Nothing can compare with the smile on his face while banging quality fish. The old codgers in the crowd love to see it too. My youngest even has started to enjoy the tin boat in Narragansett Bay and even got spooled on his Star Wars rod at age 4.I think you probably are feeling like you are climbing back down the hill at this point now that your daughter has graduated and you realize what really is important. Time DOES fly people, so never make fishing the most important thing in your life. Otherwise you will get old and wonder where the time went while you were chasing fish instead of enjoying the truly important moments life has to offer.

Flaptail...don't fight it. You're done. Move on to other things.


Please send your rods, plugs and gear to me. I'll send my address. Thank you.

Sorry to hear about the C paul... my thought are w/you.

My boat is still in my Driveway...it is nearly ready, I had a really hard time getting going on it and even a harder time writing a check for the slip. (which the guy raised 20% this year..) Then had the usual boaters problems with "stuff" that needed attn..so it took me a loong time to get motivated. It is pretty much done now, paid for and everything is working but I feel your pain.

As for surf fishing, I still enjoy it and like to go frequently...but only like to go for a couple hours and don't want to fish till I can't function anymore. There was a time that is what I did. My motto is...if your not enjoying yourself, STOP and do something that you do enjoy...fast, Life is too short to do something that you don't like. For some reason these days I am only fishing with some of my weird looking plugs and having fun with that and not hunting for best my personal best each time I go out, just catch a few fish and enjoy your surroundings.

So Numbskull that was you across the way with your Golden today.

Steve,, I can help ... The past years you've been living like a kid in a candy store .. Your jaded .. I suggest house swap .. I spend the season living in Falmouth .. You and your family enjoy my house in Brockton .. Next season you'll be good as new and raring to go ...

Sorry to hear you are feeling that way. Try bait fishing for scup, sea bass, or just sunnies in freshwater with some kids. I did that on Monday afternoon and remembered what fishing is about. This was after waking up at 3 and fishing the canal with my brother and a buddy and having a great time. Seeing someone else have fun fishing under your wing is a great thing.

Dude, that's Swine Flu Charlie and his superpup Sars. Any luck?

Surf ninja???

hhahaha.... yah you just need to get back out there :uhuh:

I have also decided not to enter any contests this year..
I have fished only a few times..I have been playing golf.
The fishing scene in NJ has just turned me off.
"Too many puppies with guns in there hands"
The work situation has been such where I have to make hay when the sun shines so fishing long nights is not in the cards right now...
It'll be back I have been a fisherman all my life.
Just a normal course..

Paul I hope all works out for ya..
Good Luck..

Steve,
We all get burned out from time to time, years and years of whacky hours take their toll... part of the problem is dealing with the crowds... you get to a point where catching one more fish just isnt worth the aggrivation to stand elbow to elbow to catch it... as soon as the easy fishing is done and the warm breezes blow, the urge to find a quiet spot to be alone with the fish will return... then old feelings will return and some how loosing a little sleep just wont seem all that bad.... I've been there too!

flap jack
 

wtf....??? have u gone girly man on me :musc:,your all gayed out on brown trout . i think your all tweeken out about life and all the head trips .:topic: dont worry we will leave u some schoolies at the end of this run :kewl:.just think one more day and 2wks vacation. steveie everyone is catching big fish ...even the wingnuts ...but u gutta b there .....:rotflmao: love ya stiffy:angel:

also i think your acting like a sissie man :agree:

Dear Steve,

You obviously need something to motivate you. Why not take a newbie or two fishing for a couple of months and teach them how to fish. Maybe you are just bored with the fishing scene here in the Northeast, it seems to me like you have seen and done it all up here, and done it successfully too. Maybe a vacation to a far off place with your wife, and maybe find some new fishing adventures there. I hope you feel better soon.

PS: Before you know it StiffTipp will have you all over the earth and back catching Tuna and this thread will seem like a distant memory

Thanks Tony. I'll get through it. Just gotta keep fighting....

I could use some fishing help!:jump:

I dunno, Flap - sounds like you've finally come to the point in age where you're not sure what you want...or why...:huh:

It happens, at a certain point your life starts to shift gears...and you won't figure it out 'til you come out the other side - where ever that may be for you.

Old age is the only totally unexpected thing that will ever happen to a man - make the most of it and start living like you mean it

The point of the whole trip, as we used to say in the '60's, is to get back to where you started and truly understand it for the first time.

Introduce someone to fishing if their joy and enthus.. doesnt get you fired up ...try golf

Tell her to get some sexy new lingerie or some new toys...that usually helps...:rotf3:Sorry I couldn't resist.

If it's one good day a weekend, I'm more likely to end up on a golf course, don't have the same drive to do it.

Thanks all, I really do appreciate the suggestions, today I start my vacation, we will see what develops.

I actually tried fishing the canl the other night after a vsit from Numby which got me fired up a bit but after several hours in the dark shadows of the canal just west of the Sagamore, I went home with the big skunkeroo. I had some delicious looking 3 oz eelskins bouncing bottom, some RonZ's and some jig head w/ sluggos and some bottle plugs wiggling thru the water but to no avail.

Obviously I have the big stink on me for some reason so I would stay away from me until I sliop out from under it's grasp.

Piemma, my thoughts are with you and your new round of health issues, I send you the very best of luck and may God's hand be on your shoulders. You'll beat it no doubt.

I have been fishing trout in a local salt creek and doing very well and that is one of the things that have kept me away from the bass fishing. No other people at all, a beautifull sunset each night that the sun is shining across a broad salt marsh, hell I even found a few plugs this past week on the marsh that must have come in on the new moon tides. My perserverance in the salter fishing paid off last Monday evening with a once in a lifetime catch and release of an 18 inch sea run Rainbow. I guess you could call it a Cape Cod Steelhead.
Neon green back crimson swath along it's sides with a broad tail and solid as a rock. It still swims there still along with several Browns I have caught and released to just under 21 inches, the bug has even taken a few school bass mixed in the bunch.

Like the construction trades the hard life of a surfcaster is a young man's game, knees and back get sorer each year and the urge to sleep more prevails. Crowds more than anything are what make me not want to get up and go. I stopped fishing the cnal when the herring run and chunk bait fishing peaked several years back. Last year was phenomenal plugging there, higher gas prices kept a lot of people away and boat traffic to a minimum. This year, now that plugging has come back into vogue and gas prices are lower, the crowds are back.

I look forward to this next two weeks, to seeing Prof M laughing his arse off whikle chatting out loud to the bass and the many ghosts that haunt the flats we fish and seeing Saltfly walking in ankle deep water flyrod in hand surrounded by hundreds of backs, dorsal fins and tails and of course the applauding bass. To fishing with 2na on the outer Cape and numby, sauerkraut, stiffy and ESL along the upper cape and island shores.

Like someone said previously, I will do it with no pressure, no expectations and just to have fun.

I will report on our progress.

Flap

Atta boy. I will be there early Monday morning, perfect tide. hope to see yeah out there.

Flaptail, if you decide not to spend as much time fishing as in the past, I hope you devote more time to writing. I love reading your older stories about fishing experiences on the Cape. You have a great way of making the reader picture exactly what you are describing. Each winter, I go back and read your Monomoy piece from the OTW compilation and I enjoy it just as much each time. You have a real talent.

After reading this thread over, I've come to realize that I may have contracted Mac-NewellGuy's Disease.*- A realizition that I have other pressing responsibilities and tasks to be done.
One day I woke up to find my house is in need of attention, my yard is knee high, my garage has fallen down, and on and on. I have so much to do and only so little time.
That coupled with my dental health episode, I had a dentist who took x-rays but never bother look at them and now I'm paying for that too. My time is limited, I'll fish when I can as a reward for a task done here and there...

* you could look it up in JAMA, Similar Peter Pan Syndrome only curable.

LOL. I think we all have some form or another of that. I know I do Fred. Good luck with the dental issues. I hate the dentist, sadistic bastards.

What Jake said.

Sooner or later you get to the point where you realize your life is out of balance - otherwise you just end up completely fishing yourself around the bend.

Reread #^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&'s post on the darkside of fishing, sometime - you're having a fishing epiphany, Flap. And it is age related without a doubt - you're just going through the labor pains of wisdom.

Lay off for a while, take care of whatever you feel you need to do and come back to it when it feels right...you'll appreciate it more in the end...:uhuh:

I don't think your alone with these feelings. I think this has been a tough year, as years go. With all the change and uncertainty that is around us, no wonder folks are laking desire or motivation. I too feel it. I just play the whole tape, and I shake off the negative feelings. I look for the reasons to go, for it is easy, when down in the dumps to just say, " the heck with it". It's early yet, but being in a funk for too long is no good, for anything, not just this thing we do.:kewl:

I think I average about 6 trips to the canal a year the last ten years. Many times I'm on the Cape but its on the great sweetwater ponds chaseing bass, trout and salmon. Midsummer on a quiet lake with very few others and its nice and quiet. My canal trips are usually between midnight and early morning, then I'll hang with the boys and hit Gray Gables for lunch.

steve....its not u...here it is. sometime life sucks big time , why me ? or worst ...we all been there .i'm there right now ! but we all get over it and move on u have no choice .u got a case of the dont give a sh its. you'll b ok .life could b worst..........

I have to echo Fishbones sentiments......I love reading anything you write Steve! Have not read anything new for awhile? You have a gift for crafting a great story and I would love to see more!:rtfm:

Steve I hope you enjoy your vacation and find your mojo!

Good to see you fighting through it...1@15 on a mm last night.....anything else after that ? Nada here.

You'd be horrified if I told you what you missed after you left on Wed.

Well, I just cut the lawn for the first time in 12 days. I have fished 12 early mornings straight. I have neglected my yard, my job, my family and I don't care. After 40 odd years of chasing the striped ones I have it all in perspective. Fish when you want and everything else can wait. This year I just don't care about anything except snagging pogies and crushing bass.

I am actually taking the boat out with the intent of pursuing fish.
I haven't had the desire nor the time. I think nailing down the new job has stimulated me to actually want to fish now.

Flap, I know exactly how you feel, but challenging your self with other methods does help. This is how Sponge Bob came into my life a few years ago. I was bored with the same rutting of catching fish. After a while something does go missing and why sometimes I envy new comers and children to the sport. That first time feeling of catching fish or your first blitz ect. is amazing, I will never forget mine but you only get to live it so many times before it all starts to cloud together. The fact that I fish so much and for so many diffrent species in both fresh & salt makes it hard to motivate my self sometimes...so your not alone........I spent a whole tide with fish in the 28lb-38lb range busting on top the other day and just sat back and took pictures of the guys I was with enjoying them selves and it felt good...........Your not alone.

When the time's right...
 

YOU WILL KNOW IT! :bl:

I finally got the urge to go, and this AM and it was a great kick-off to my season from the get-go.

I saw my good luck fox at the parking lot - had the place to myself- tide was perfect- had 4 bumps my first drift- hooked up on the second drift- and had steady action for over an hour and landed my first 4 fish of the season before the tide let go. IT WAS MY TIME! :kewl:

Patience young grasshoppa- your time will come, and you won't rook back.


Jon

I hear ya..I just sold my boat last month, bought another street bike, been busy with that, work, the girlfriend, and a lot of other stuff..haven't been out once this year. Usually I'm out after schoolies in April and fishing hard by the middle of May.. This year something has been different.... things/friends have changed, my life and priorities are differnet I guess... once in a while I think about going (some fresh food for the table would be nice) but I just dont have the time for it.. Im starting to feel guilty because my uncle has been doing well lately and keeps asking me go with him but Im just not interested.

Once I stop drinking long enough to have solid movements again I plan on fishing seriously this year.Some years are worse than others.This one is a slump for me so far.Haven't got a fish yet !Only went out twice and just casted a few times then packed it in.Glad to hear your having success doing what your doing.I hate the crowds just the same.Last time I hit my local spot there was two guys with at least 15 rods each covering most of the area and a cooler full of 5 inch scup.:yak: