"JR" wrote


Me, I'd just, in my mind, decrease the radius of my "circle of
possibilities." Fish 40 feet away, all right (hell, I'm sitting in a
kickboat for God's sake....). Fish 70 feet away might as well be in Idaho
for all I care. If nothing is rising in, or moving toward my small world,
I sit and watch the larger one....



That, sir, is wonderful advice .... I only wish that I had the qualities
required to follow it.

When I was a avid waterfowler, my patience was 'legendary' in my local
circles and I'd pass on possible shot after possible shot until I worked Mr
Duck or Goose into the perfect place. I have friends that still tell
stories about nearly going insane as I, as 'blind boss', kept demanding in
a whisper between grunts into a call, "Stay down, not yet, stay DOWN"

I mention this because it strikes me as an odd quirt of this human's mind.

You see, I was MUCH more into measuring success in numbers when hunting and
was MUCH more competitve about it than I am about fishing. But, I find it
very difficult to not try a 'wing and a prayer" long shot cast on Hebgen.
Logic ( if that applied in any way to human behavior ) would make it seem
I'd be less "needy" to try casts beyond my ability, since my desire to catch
isn't nearly as intense as my hunting desire of the past, but the opposite
seems to be true.

No excuse, but part of the problem is that 75 feet looks like 40 feet when
you're a mile from shore and that nose sipping spinners is clearly attached
to a 20++ inch fish G. It's real common for me to wind up, duck as the
tangled mess of line flutters by my head, and then wonder, "Why the **** did
I even try?"