Astro...thanks.lol. I've never been good with names. wasn't Peter his trail name? or was that Silas?Originally Posted by Astro
anyways, the message remains the same.
No, I have not had a TV since 11/12.
Last edited by Son Driven; 12-25-2013 at 09:06. Reason: deleted
No, I have not had a TV since November of 2011.
03/07/13 - 10/07/13 Flip flop AT thru hike "It is well with my soul"
I have never, ever, ever been happy that the hike was coming to a close. On the contrary.
AT x 3
GA-ME 2010
GA-ME 2011
ME-GA 2013
Originally Posted by Drybones
It's like fishing....all it takes is a good day every now and then to keep you going back...meet a hiker you really like, see a view you'll never forget, wake up the morning after the worst day you ever had with a euphoric high from just knowing you survived, have a cheeseburger and beer that tastes like nothing you've ever had before. You don't have to walk Springer to Maine...you just have to keep taking the next step.
LOL Canoe! If you are sitting down all day you are not fishing. I find your comment insulting to any real fisherman.
Canoe? Have you ever been around serious fisherman or fished with them? I think you'll change your mind.
If you are really fishing and not sitting on your a$$ an excuse to not be at home or places you don't want to be than its not fishing. It's just an excuse. Probably similar to those that quit the AT use to justify not finishing.
When I fish I'm constantly reading the water, scanning for birds that may be over fish, any debris in the water that may hold fish,watching the radar to see if its marking birds out of your line if sight, and looking for fishy areas. If using bait constantly checking lines. Here in Florida we often kite fish mostly to catch sailfish. This means flying two kites with 3 baits hanging from each kite. It usually takes 2 experienced anglers to man the 3 lines hanging from each kites so that the baits stay on the top of the water spacing around. If not the baits may be flying 20 in the air during wind gust and when the wind dies down the baits may be 20 feet under water. Both of which are no good. It's a lot of work. During tournaments most of the time 6 lines is the most you can fish. If just out fun fishing a crew of 4 to 6 guys may be fishing 10+ lines.
Many people think trolling is just putting out lines till the fish hit. Again that is not the case. You have to constantly watching each line. Making sure none have weeds on the lure. If so catching anything goes down. Constantly making sure all lures/baits are working properly. Adjusting them if they are not running properly. When trolling baits you have to be constantly looking to make sure the baits aren't spinning or washed out.
Some of the most fun and hardest jobs is running the boat while kite fishing. You're up in a tower some 25 to 50 feet above the water. Most of the times the wind has to be blowing so the seas are nasty and your just trying to hang on a 5 to 7 foot wave means your swinging 20 to 50 feet per wave hanging onto the tower or wheel while hoping to keep the boat straight into the waves so line don't get tangled. Another reason of being in the tower is to spot the fish before it bites so you can let the anglers below know which bait the fish is going after till they can see it. Its a lot of work and running a boat from the tower takes its toll on the whole body. Your legs are shot after a day up in the tower due to just trying to brace yourself from slamming from one side of the tower to the other. One of the funniest things about running the boat is when you do a sailfish on you get to chase the fish down in reverse and soak the angler fight the fish when backing down or many times multiple hookups when you may 3 to 5 sailfish on at a time.
I also laugh when people say surf fishing is easy. You just have to throw out a line and wait for the fish to bite. This isn't how you catch fish. Surf fishing is actually really hard. I fish 4 rods with 3 to 5 hooks each. Each rod is 20 to 30 yards from each other. You have to constantly checking each rod to make sure that the crabs or small fish haven't taken your bait. Thats a 75 to 100 yards of walking or running back and forth. It gets really crazy when multiple rods are going off.
Same thing goes for fishing rivers or lakes. Just sitting there doesn't catch fish. You have to go find them. Try different lures and areas to find the fish. Fish don't come to you. You have to find them and what they want to eat.
This is fish! Not sitting around hoping to catch something when your baits been stolen for the last 4 hours.
Sorry if this is off topic but I think it goes well with this thread. Quiting the trail and making excuses as to why you didn't finish or why you didn't catch anything seem to go hand in hand in my opinion. You have to work hard to accomplish both.
Canoe, You don't end up being in this picture by being lazy or making excuses or not working hard.
[IMG][/IMG]
The boat pictured above would never be the bait boat. Not enough room to fish 5 rods with 15 hook rigs each, or be able to afford the fuel bill. This boat burns 35 to 45 gallons of fuel an hour at cruising speed. We always bait fish out of 25 foot open fishermans. Meaning no where to hide from the weather or spray from the ocean swells crashing into the boat except some rain gear.
Countless Sleepless nights out catching bait. Mostly goggle eyes which sell for up to $120 a dozen during tournament season. They really only bite at night so bait fishing from sunset to sun up for days or weeks is normal. Also remember this is a winter fishery for fishing in for bait or sailfish the weather is usually cold, the winds are blowing and the seas rough. You may go thru 50 to 100 baits or more in a day. Only the really rich can afford buying bait and then not knowing if it was caught and cared for correctly is another issue. Catching the bait yourself is the best way. If one goggle eye falls off the bait rigs and hits the deck it better not go in the live well. Often times we pen up the baits and feed them. Many take care of their baits better than their kids. Feeding them daily and making sure none are dead or sick. If so they are removed ASAP. You still need to have many other bait options that these fish feed on requiring many more days of bait fishing. Then add in making 500 leader rigs, re-spooling 20+ rods with new line the work is endless. This is all without even thinking about making sure all systems are a go on the boat. Losing your live wells means thousands of dollars in lost bait plus not being able to fish.
Sorry to rant on about fishing being easy comments but it pi$$e$ me off when people joke about fishing being so easy.
I kind of like seeing it hiking on during the rain. Not wanting to to leave a shelter cause its cold and raining. Its the same with fishing for me. Its never fun know its 50 degrees out and raining but we need to bait fish. Now add in 6 to 10 foot seas bashing the boat around and your constantly being rained on mixed with the sea water spraying into the boat for hours on end.
Canoe - This is real fishing! Just like I'm sure hiking the AT is real hiking. I can say I've slept on the deck of a boat at sea many a night. When commercial fishing we would spend nights sleeping on a small boat at sea dealing with rough seas, high winds, and rain. Coming in to unload and head right back out.
Sorry for any typo's!
I'm an expert on leaving the trail. I've done it many times. In fact I can say, regardless of the planned length of my hike(s), I'm usually happy when they're over.
As for facing your friends back home after you've bailed on a thru-hike: your friends back home have no idea what the experience was like. For me, that wasn't reason enough to keep going.
I bailed on my (attempted) thru hike at 650 miles or so, in southern Virginia, a day or two shy of Catawba. In the back of my mind I still wanted to finish the trail, some day, somehow. And I did, but it took seventeen more years. On my last long section (about 600 miles) I willed myself into a now-or-never mindset. Fortunately all went well -- relatively easy trail, good weather, light pack, etc. But even on that hike, I was happy when it was over.
Different folks come to the trail with all sorts of expectations and all sorts of ways of dealing (or not dealing) with the inevitable hardships. Hiking is a voluntary activity, after all, and that's what makes it tough to stay with it when it stops being fun. So if there's some magical formula for success, I'd say... find some way to keep it fun. It takes a certain sense of humor, a lightness of heart. Or something like that.
My wife and I attempted to thru this Spring and only made it 300 miles, our reasons for leaving were varied but after 10 plus years of "sectioning" I'd like to emphasize that a thru is a whole different animal. I'm pretty sure that I was a little more disillusioned with the hike than she was but we had agreed from the beginning that we would finish together or not at all, but I still feel guilty about not hanging in there a little longer. Shortly after leaving the Trail her only brother suffered a stroke and my elderly father a heart attack so our hike was destined to be cut short though I had no way of knowing this. We've suffered some depression since leaving and dearly miss the friends we made those first hard weeks, unfortunately we've lost touch with them not knowing how they themselves fared and wish now we had made better connections with them. Our Summer has been filled with the details of family matters but we couldn't help but look at the calender from time to time and wonder "where would we be about now" and it has caused us to long for the hike. So for that reason we're headed back to the point where we left the Trail just outside of Erwin and we'll continue north as long as the weather permits. It won't be a Thru but we're determined to finish the hike no matter how many seasons it takes. www.trailjournals.com/elrayluckycharm
"every day's a holiday, every meal a feast"
That's the spirit!
i,ve left the trail a time or two, when my dog was not having fun anymore
I took too many 0 days, I left Springer March 1 (2000) by oct 10 I was south of Stratton, when the snow started I took the old AT to top of Surgarloaf and walked down ski slopes and maintenance road to ski village then hitched to Stratton. Next year I returned to SL in september and hiked back up and finished my hike to Baxter. And was honest about it when i reported it to the ATC, unlike some names I saw on 2000 list.(DOAH)
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