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The Surf Fisherman's Exceptional American World

 

I am always amazed at what I have done in the past to pursue some of my favorite pastimes.  Take fishing or hunting for instance.

 

You get out of bed somewhere before 90% of the sane people of the world.  Endure any kind of inclement weather.  Often times the worse the better.  Head off in car or boat to reach a place that only a few people in their right minds would care to see still before old Sol comes limping up over the horizon.  Shiver in temperatures that have frozen a half glass of water on the back porch overnight.  Put enough black coffee into your stomach to burn through the bottom of an old galvanized bucket.

 

But heck it's worth it..........Right?

 

  Right?

 

You better believe it.

 

The isolation of the early day with a close friend, maybe even a son or daughter....Draws people like me to those human experiences like flies to day old road kill.  I would not miss them for all the world.  Call it camaraderie, sport, relaxation, vacation or maybe love.

 

  Maybe to some of just no interest.  I pity them.

 

To me however, the sun making it's presence felt as a red ball or as simply a light grey over the horizon is something akin to prayer.

 

 

 

  Sharing the fork of a hundred and fifty old oak tree with a teenage son on his first bow hunt for deer is a memory etched into my cerebellum forever.  So what if I missed that buck deer at 30 yards....killing is not what it was all about.

 

 

  Or when a daughter slowly pulled her first blue crab to the surface clinging to a piece of salted eel tied to the end of a cotton string.  Steamed crabs are sure tasty, but that's not what it was about.  How lucky can I be. 

 

 

 Particularly when I turn on the TV to see children of the world burning our flag, hurling rocks at some unseen person with a tear gas gun, or watching some idiot pack a child with a body suit made of TNT.

 

Just lucky to have been born in a country where I can sit in that tree, net that crab, or stand in the cold surf trying to lure a giant fish to my bait.

 

 

Think about that.