Pauls Ponderings - January 17, 2008
Jan 17,2008 00:00 by Paul B. Hayes
Being stuck inside during the drab winter months tends to make a person daydream about the better weather that lies ahead come springtime, and what you could be doing with your time outdoors. Throw in a few days like we had the first part of last week when the temperature got up to around 70 degrees, and your lust for springtime intensifies.
When spring does finally roll around, and we’re able to get outdoors, my thoughts turn to one activity – fishing. While I know that you can catch fish in the winter, and know several people that do fish quite a bit when cold weather hits, I’m not one of them. First off, I don’t have a big boat capable of getting out on the lake.(I used to have a bass boat, but discovered that I actually did less fishing than I did when I didn’t have a boat. Since most of my fishing is done in the afternoons after I get off work, I found out that by the time I’d get home, get my truck, hook up the boat, get everything ready to go, then haul it to the lake and unload, I’d used up most of the time I had to fish. It’s a whole lot simpler, and easier, to just throw a couple of rods and a small tackle box in the truck and head out to a pond, creek or river.) Secondly, I don’t have any of the heavy clothing that looks like snowmobile suits to fish in when it’s freezing cold on the water. And, thirdly, the older I get, the more and more cold weather affects my bones and aching joints. So, prefer the temperature to be at least 60 degrees before I embank on a fishing journey.
However, I may have come upon something that will help me pass the time in the winter months and still be involved in fishing. It’s called a fantasy fishing league that’s being started up this year by the folks who run the FLW tournament circuit. You’ve got fantasy football leagues, fantasy baseball leagues, fantasy basketball leagues, so why not a fantasy fishing league?
Our head pressman here at work, Richard Bowling, is a big bass fisherman himself, and one of those that has the equipment and clothing to fish year round, so I recruited him as a partner, and we signed up for this new fantasy fishing league. The format working something like this: Prior to each of the FLW tournaments, you get on your computer and get the list of the fishermen who will be participating in it. You then pick a team of 10 fishermen that you hope will catch a lot of fish. After the tournament is over and all the pounds of fish caught by each angler is totaled up, the person (or two-man team like myself and Richard) who’s 10-man team has the highest total poundage of fish is the winner. And, best of all, is what you win - $100,000. Plus, a chance to win other things like boats, motors, fishing equipment, etc.
Then, at the end of the FLW tournament season, the person or team whose anglers have scored the highest all year long wins a million dollars!
It’s no telling how many people will be entered in this fantasy league, and Richard and I realize that our chances of winning will probably be pretty slim. But, as the old saying goes, “Even a blind hog will find an acorn every once in a while,” so, who knows. Plus, if we could win a lot of money, maybe I’d be able to buy me a boat and some warm clothes and get out and fish myself.