Married Into Fishing Luxury

 



I grew up poor. Yard sales provided a large part of our wardrobe. Patched jeans were the norm rather than the exception. Those same jeans became cutoff shorts when summer rolled around. Gardening, foraging, hunting, and fishing all contributed to our pantry, refrigerator, and freezer. I still have the same fishing pole my folks bought me when I was twelve. Back then we used big rusty nuts as sinkers. We hunted nightcrawlers with flashlights in the dark. We dug worms from the compost pile. We used those rustic tools and tactics to fish for suckers in the creek near our house. Occasionally we would get lucky and catch a trout as a special treat, but it was mostly suckers. Sometimes we would go camping at a lake that had bluegills, bass, and pike. This was high adventure for us and that fishing pole has caught everything from perch to pike, crappie to catfish, along with the countless sucker hauled from the "crick."

I don't say all this to bemoan my upbringing and lack of experience to the wider world of fishing. I'm proud of my fishing roots. This is merely to illustrate where I came from in regards to where I am now. I have been beyond blessed in countless ways by marrying my wife, Annie. One of the most impactful blessings from this relationship is the ability to spend more time outdoors. I don't take this benefit lightly. Fishing and hunting are my escape from the stress and strain of every day life. They are how I am able to recharge and retain my sanity. And my wife encourages me to utilize them as often as I possibly can. 

I may have started out fishing a humble, haggard, little creek, but my marriage has brought me to Michigan's Upper Peninsula for pike and smallies, Charleston for redfish and black drum, the Santee Cooper for stripers and shellcrackers, Lake of the Ozarks for blue cats, Gulf Shores for speckled sea trout, whiting, and sheepshead, and Maine for musky. Not to mention countless hours spent on local waters. 

None of this would have been possible if I hadn't married into a family that loves fishing as much as I do. My wife, her dad, and her brother all enjoy fishing and that bond has resulted in many enjoyable days on the water. 

I guess this post is less about my growing experience in fishing and more of a brag session about how unbelievably fortunate I was to marry a woman that understands and encourages my participation in adventures out of doors. As I type this, I am mentally preparing for an upcoming trip to Gulfport, Mississippi, where I will join Annie's dad and brother for a week of coastal fishing. 

I am well aware that I am now able to enjoy pursuits that many people only dream about. And I do not take that for granted. I started Grizld with the goal of spotlighting the more attainable outdoor adventures and helping other find ways to enjoy them also. It is why I create videos about bank fishing for "rough" fish or foraging mushrooms. I get just as much fulfilment from those activities as I do jigging for salmon or drifting for catfish. And I hope you do too. If you're looking to pursue these adventures yourself, we hope Grizld can be a valuable resource on your journey. If you have questions you can comment here or reach us via email at grizldoutdoors@gmail.com. We'll see you outdoors. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Spring Trash is Grizld's Treasure!

Image
I grew up sucker fishing Crockery Crick. I don't expect most, if any, of you to know where it is and I'm not about to waste my time trying to explain. It's generally a muddy, tangled, knot of a crick. Rare are the stretches that anyone would label “picturesque”. Oh, you're still back there wondering why I called it a crick, and not a creek, aren't ya? Well, that's because that's what it is. There's a hard distinction between the two. The late outdoor author and scholar, Patrick F. McManus, goes into detail about the differences in his essay “How to Fish a Crick”. As he has already expounded greatly on the topic, I will summarize. A creek is calm, pristine, and well behaved. A crick is liable to get thrown in the drunk tank on a Saturday night after doing shots of house whiskey. But I started off talking about growing up sucker fishing, so stop distracting me. From about as early as I can recall, our family would fish the crick from mid March, well i...
Read more

Chasing River Cats in the Michigan Heat

Image
           Michigan will never make the list of top places to target catfish. We're completely out of the range for blue catfish, we're at the northern extreme for flatheads, and being so far north, channel cats, while abundant, are significantly smaller than their southern counterparts.      Growing up, and through most of my adult years, catfish were never a species of interest for our family. The waters we frequented just didn't have them, or if they did, we weren't aware of it. It wasn't until I was in my thirties that I even attempted to catch catfish intentionally.      I was invited to go fishing with my dad and uncle on a local lake. My uncle had been catching catfish there for several years so I was exited to give it a try. I had a vague understanding of the most common tactics for catfish, mainly live or cut bait on a slip sinker rig, just sitting on the bottom. I was more than a little surprised when I found out we w...
Read more

Jerking Perch Through Early Ice

Image
 Ice fishing opportunities have been awfully limited in Michigan, and other parts of the country, the last couple of years. That dosen't stop us from wanting to get out there on the hard water to chase down some of the best eating fish to be found.  Perch are a favorite across the country when it comes to targeting fish through the ice, and early in the season they can be pretty easy to find. They're much more likely to be in shallow water with good vegetation at the beginning of the ice season. We've caught them in as little as four foot of water, but usually six to fifteen feet is where you'll find the bigger specimens.  We prefer to use the Beaver Dam noodle rods, which you can usually find as a rod and reel combo for less than $25. They are ideal for indicating even the lightest bites when the fish are less aggressive. A two to four pound monofilament or flaurocarbon line is our choice, paired with a double jig set up. Two four or five millimeter tungsten jigs, spac...
Read more