“The Clock Ticks Fast”

Over the past couple of years, I decided to sell my boats.  I just sold my local boat a few weeks ago.  Not an easy decision to make.  I’ve seen it many times through the years with other fishermen.  I didn’t realize that my day would come so soon. You get to the point that it becomes difficult to keep your boat maintained and make sure it’s clean every day.  Most of the time it’s hard to launch the boat on Tuttle Creek Lake with the lake level up and down.  My balance has got far worse in the past two years due to age and my doctor tells me my arms and shoulders are just worn out.  It takes medication to get through a hard fishing day.  It was especially hard to give up my boat down south.  Frieda and I made so many trips down the Mississippi river to the mouth of the Gulf to fish for red fish and fish the oil rigs.  I just can’t do the things I use to do.  I’ve owned boats for 55 years and spent thousands of hours on the water.  I’m glad I’m still fishing but it’s time to phase out that part of my life.  I’m still getting out every day and catching a few fish but it’s still hard to give up the past.  You have to keep telling yourself that you’ve had your time in the sun and far more time than the average person.  Life has been good!  No complaints, just miss going out in my boats.  Sitting up in the river at 5:00 am when the water is coming in and you’re catching 30 fish in 4 hours, you need to be in good shape to tackle that.