Bait and tradition and litter

I'd like to expand on this topic a little. I have left more blood on the beach in my three years fishing than I probably have bled the other years of my life. Fishing is like a contact sport to me. Hell, I played hardball baseball until I was 47 and wasn't injured as much as I have been fishing. I can recall at least three times last year when I cut myself so badly chunking bait that I needed stitches, but didn't get them because it was more important to keep fishing. If I was in warmer water, I would have attracted sharks. When I had a smaller sand spike, I probably fell over it 10 different times while fighting fish (once I fell over it twice on the same fish which turned out to be a schoolie). Now that I have a big sand spike, all I do is crash into it but at least I don't fall. Probably the worst part about fishing is when the waves break just below my midsection. This is my recreation. Going to the beach bloody and getting pummeled in the groin by waves while waiting for fish that may never show up. Yet, I love every minute of it.