C'mon winter!!

[Ken G]

Not me, and when are you guys going to quit hammering this no ice shit to death.

There's no ice, get over it.

[Special Ed]

Sold most of my ice gear. Shanty - gone. Flasher - gone. Extra auger - gone. Extra rod/reels - gone.

I have some generic stuff left to be able to play tag-a-long with someone else, but my days of venturing out to brave the crap ice conditions around here are over.

I have no time for it anyway.

The rest of the fishing gear is on probation as well. If it doesn't leave the garage by August 15, it's gone too.

[Ken G]

The rest of the fishing gear is on probation as well. If it doesn't leave the garage by August 15, it's gone too.

You've got to be able to squeeze in a few days by then, no?

What are you going to use when you get the boys out fishing?

[Special Ed]

The rest of the fishing gear is on probation as well. If it doesn't leave the garage by August 15, it's gone too.

You've got to be able to squeeze in a few days by then, no?

What are you going to use when you get the boys out fishing?

I hope so... but I'm being optimistic.In the coming weeks I will have a second job, nights and weekends. Kids will go in daycare/after school care, and my/their fishing time will be limited to holidays at best. Besides, the boys have their own fishing gear, that I will hold onto. I have some rods I built for myself, I'll never sell those. The rest of the stuff, salmon, pike, walleye, big bass gear, and all the crap that won't fit in my wader pouch will be sold. I'll post an announcement when the garage sale is set to go. Last time i had a garage sale I had 4 guys waiting in my driveway 2 hours early JUST for the fishing stuff. Those 4 guys bought it all.

I need to pay off some old debt, get my head above water on this shitty house, and try to find some money to save for the family to take a vacation. Did you know we've never had the kids on one, and I've never taken one with my wife?

Maybe I'll have time to come back to fishing when I'm 50-something, grumpy and complaining about the stupid geese or some silly creek dam.

[Nick]

It's a tough call, Ed, but family comes first. Kudos to you.

In the grand scheme of things, you don't need dozens of rods, reels, etc...to catch fish.

Now onto important things...do I need to find a new rod builder to make my 4wt for me?

[Special Ed]

It's a tough call, Ed, but family comes first. Kudos to you.

In the grand scheme of things, you don't need dozens of rods, reels, etc...to catch fish.

Now onto important things...do I need to find a new rod builder to make my 4wt for me?

If you did, they would have quite a job ahead of them living up to the expectations I have blessed you with.

Your 2wt. is so sad sitting here on my work bench waiting for a tip. All this fancy threadwork is nor naught if you can't fish it!

[ThunderStick]

Sold your ice gear!???

[Special Ed]

Sold your ice gear!???

Well yea... we NEVER have enough ice to use it! lol

[ThunderStick]

Next you'll be talking about hanging up your waders.....GAH!

[Ken G]

Fucking geese and as I put in my last post... “Just yank the fucking dam already and be done with it. Don’t listen to what these naysaying assholes have to say. They don’t know a damn thing about rivers, conservation or what’s good for a river, so fuck ‘em and yank the damn thing.”

By the time I get done responding to what you said, my fingers would be bleeding. I'll save it for in person.

EXCEPT, I'm a few days away from being 57. Something happens when you hit this age. I have debt that will probably never get paid off and the people expecting it pretty much know that. This is what happens when you cut guys my age out of the job market. Ask your dad. Everybody below us in the economic food chain suffers. In my case, since there's nothing I can do about it, I don't worry about it much.

I told each of my kids when they went to first grade to do well in school cause when you get to college I'm probably not going to be able to help you. That was at a time when I was making around 100K a year. Look at how it's turned out. I was right. ALSO, the kids did well. The oldest had most of her school paid off by grants and scholarships, minimal loan. The next will be going in the fall. She got a free ride to a school in Alabama, which she's skipping, but she's lining up all kinds of things for U of I.

I did everything by the book. Over trained myself to the point where I'm told to dumb myself down. I can't even get offered minimum wage jobs. Really, I can't get hired at Bass Pro, Dicks or Gander? Funny stories those. I know more than the managers, but they're doing the hiring.

Good luck man, been there and it can suck. You got to remember that I didn't start fishing the way I do now till I was 40. There was a reason for that. Now I let nothing stand in the way of that. What for? All the other shit amounted to nothing in the long run. I still have my health for the most part and it costs me virtually nothing to wander down to the river to go fishing.

And that makes me happy. At this age, it's all about me. I've had too many friends my age drop dead in the last few years as they struggled and struggled. It just isn't worth it.

Okay, that was longer than I wanted, but it could have been worse.