and an excellent wintertime thread!!!
BUT; in my humble opinion~~~
i think alot of who outlasts who from the physical
side of the equation comes down to DNA/genes.
some bodies are blessed by their ancestors to have the
capacity to stay in good physical conditioning with less efforts
than most of the same size, age, and experiences~~~
regardless the COLOR of their COLLAR,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
when i consider the mental aspects of this sport we love,
DZ and others have summed it up nicely by bringing the
WANT factor into it. ie hungries, and extremists.
i am a Local #7 Union Ironworker. for over twenty years i've been abusing my body against the steel. as i age, i learn more about "working the iron" vs "the iron working me". yet we ALL only have so many reps/casts/rock hops/turns of the wrenches/mental distresses in us before time and nature reduce our capacities to do ANYTHING!!
that being said, i have to WANT it every day to continue in my trade~~~~
my knees, shoulders, elbows, and ankles are turning to junk, relatively speaking. i can still "throw bolts" with the best of them ~young or old; but i believe that my productivity at this stage in life is more based on my DESIRE and my "working smarter, NOT harder" approach that my diminished physical capacities have thrust upon me. don't get me wrong i am still very capable of "gittin' r done",,,,,,,,,,,,i just feeel it more these days,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
imho, this same dynamic applies to the mental side of surfcasting. while it may hurt more and take more out of me physically,
i am MORE driven and am learning to maximize my windows of opportunity, so that i reap the greatest return on my investments of time, energy, family sacrifice, and both the mental and physical stresses that surfcasting requires from us hungries/fish harders.
the fact that i experience this everyday at work, the ability to dig deep and keep digging and finish each day STRONG,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,gives me the wherewithal to "find that place" during each nights haunts. i am also trying to feesh smarter and work the surf, rather than the opposites of both,,,,,,,,,,,,,so my vote is for BC,,,,,,,,,,,all things considered and the above mentioned exceptions applied.
STILL, each night out is a Blessing and i count every striper dawn as joy. since i get sooooooo much more from surfcasting, than it could ever take from me. whether catching or not, the rejuvinative powers (both mentaly and physically) derived from living the nights and dreaming the dreams and chasing the COWS and slamming the surf gives me a solace of mind, body, and spirit that i've yet to find in a various sundry of recreations/sports/hobbies/addictions ~lo these 48 1/2 years.
I LOVE THIS SHEEEEEET, and the same is true for my job!!
i think that it is a pre-requisite for both; irrespective of the collar's color we wear to put bread on the table. as has been said; El Stripera cares NOT what color one's collar is, she's just trying to kick yer adzzz and drop that hook infested eeeeeeeel that you've deeply stuck in her maw.
