Life milestones-or regrets-outdoor related

There isn’t enough space on this server for my list.

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Convincing the family to go in on a cabin 12 years ago was the best thing we ever did. It was always a simmering idea with my Mom and Dad. It took a lot family meetings with my three sisters (and their families) and almost didn’t happen. But we found a way to make it work. My oldest son will be 14 in a few weeks, We bought it when he could barely walk, he and his little brother have grown up having the cabin in their lives. It’s their favorite place to be. I’ve taught them how to fish and how to drive a boat. My oldest now takes his brother fishing on the boat without me. It’s bittersweet but also really cool. I watched him “guide” my youngest and catch a bass not too far off our dock. Watched him take his time, net the fish, help with the hook and take a pic of his little bro. I was able to get these pics! (if I can get them to post)

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Regret not buying the family cabin when my parents sold it. Was probably late 20’s at the time, didn’t have the money, but 5 years later would have had sufficient funds. Looking back, I could have made it work.

So my advice, when something like that comes along (land, cabin, house, etc), and you feel you don’t have the immediate funds, you need to look a bit down the road to forecast what your situation will be like and do anything possible within reason to try to make it work.

ThunderLund78 wrote:

Convincing the family to go in on a cabin 12 years ago was the best thing we ever did. It was always a simmering idea with my Mom and Dad. It took a lot family meetings with my three sisters (and their families) and almost didn’t happen. But we found a way to make it work. My oldest son will be 14 in a few weeks, We bought it when he could barely walk, he and his little brother have grown up having the cabin in their lives. It’s their favorite place to be. I’ve taught them how to fish and how to drive a boat. My oldest now takes his brother fishing on the boat without me. It’s bittersweet but also really cool. I watched him “guide” my youngest and catch a bass not too far off our dock. Watched him take his time, net the fish, help with the hook and take a pic of his little bro. I was able to get these pics! (if I can get them to post)

THIS……my parents bought a cabin up in Itasca county when i was 6, back in 1965. my mom just handed us the checkbook last year…..just my brother and myself. when we are gone hopefully our boys can keep it moving forward.

i really dont know what i’d be doing now if that wasnt a big major part of out life.

Milestone AND Regret –

I started specifically muskie fishing in 2000. The first year, I caught 5 of them. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but I also didn’t get a taste of how difficult it was either. From 2001 – August 2017, I didn’t catch a single muskie. And I tried for many of those years for long periods of time. I logged over 500 hours over the course of a decade without one. Towards the end of that drought in 2015 and 2016, I seriously thought about giving up and selling all my gear. My Grandfather died in 2012 from cancer and one of the items he gave me was his Beckman muskie net. I didn’t have the heart to sell it because it had some sentimental value to me, but I was ashamed to keep it because it wasn’t getting any use. In 2017, the floodgates opened one rainy August afternoon. I boated 3 of them in 3 hours. Since that August day in 2017, I have caught 24 muskies. At the same time, I regret my attitude and lack of desire to keep trying. I also know for a fact that if I had completely given up and sold my gear, I would have regretted it.

In late March 2018 I went on a 3-day guided saltwater fishing trip with my Father to the Florida Keys. I regret not doing that sooner. Hope to go again someday.

Great topic and interesting replies, I’ve read every one.

I may as well start with regrets. I have a very difficult relationship with the past. More than anything, this makes me envious of people who had an enjoyable or happy time growing up. I guess “regret” implies something that we controlled and could have made different choices, but nonetheless, I regret the fact that while so many people look back on growing up with tremendous fondness and a longing to go back if they could, I simply do not and I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that I never will.

I regret the fact that I can’t look at old pictures, or call old friends from high school and talk about the good old days. The silver lining, I guess, is that the outdoors was a tremendous refuge for me, but overall my wish for my sons is that they go to the outdoors for joy, not solace.

Now to better times and milestones. It’s a fishing forum, so I’ll choose a fishing moment.

Atlantic Salmon – Scotland – River Spey

If salmon fishing has a Holyland, it’s Scotland. And if it has a Jerusalem, it’s the River Spey. This is salmon fishing’s holiest of holy waters, it’s the home of the fly fishing technique known as Speycasting. If a baseball player dreams of stepping up to bat in Yankee Stadium, an Atlantic salmon angler dreams of fishing the Spey.

The catch on the entire Spey is carefully recorded by the owners of the water (yes, in Scotland, water is owned by the landowner) and the entire river sees only a few dozen fish landed per day for the whole length of the river. Per day! Since the Spey is all private fishing, just getting the opportunity to fish it requires a major effort and some major luck.

Believe me, none were more shocked than I, when 1 hour after I first even held a two-handed fly rod and laid down my first speycast, I felt the tick, tick, tick of something alive at the end of my rod.

“Fish, fish, fish!” I said to guide/friend Malcolm, who stood on the bank, a picture of Scottish fishing in his breeks and tweeds.

“Nae. Bottom.”

Bang. I set the hook and 10 pounds of chrome shot out of the water and skyward like it had been launched by a submarine. The shooting line beside me flew up toward me and I had to scramble to avoid tangling it and get it through the guides. As proof positive there is a God, somehow I got the shooting line off and the fish running on the reel. And Holy MacDuff did it run!

I envy the angler who can truly enjoy fighting a fish under these circumstances because all I can think of is, “Don’t #### it up.” I knew the odds of landing an Atlantic on the Spey were slim to none, so it did not escape me the fact that my chances of ever getting another chance if I messed this one up were none and none.

To her great credit, the salmon fought hard and fought dirty. The pool was poetically named Pol Ma Cree, Gaelic for “pool of my heart”. And mine was going to give out. This fish was going to break me off and I was just along for the ride.

She headed for the rocks and the rapids toward the tail of the pool and I saw it coming, so here was shot. Now or never, turn her or she’s gone. I threw the 14-foot rod sideways to the river’s midline and palmed the spool as hard as I dared. To my utter astonishment, I got her around and the tables were now turned, it was the river and I against her now.

She had three more heart-stopping runs in her, I won’t bore you with the details, but to say she was a worthy opponent would be a tremendous understatement. Finally, Malcolm had her in the net and I’m not sure who was more stunned, he or I.

9 pounds 12 ounces of sea-liced Atlantic, probably just out of the sea by a few days. What a catch and what a place to catch it. I put her back and she disappeared into her river, I thought often that I hope she bore a million more.

To everyone so far, some really awesome adventures have been shared and I appreciate reading through them. We all have different life circumstances and different opportunities have all come our way. I think desire plays a big role in that, which makes us all individuals.

I don’t live in a world of regrets. Yeah like anyone, there’s things that I would like to have done differently but I don’t dwell on it. All I can do is lift my head up, look forward, and MoveOn. So when I do consider anything that would be regrets I try my best to see that as a learning opportunity and not to duplicate the same mistakes.

I know often I am taken for being arrogant or cocky instead of it being viewed as confidence. Financially and assets have never held a high value to me. Somehow I learned a very young age how important family friendship and memories are. But I think of everything that I have achieved in my life the number 1 mile stone I was blessed to achieve was to give my daughters and upbringing in the outdoors. They do not share the same interests at the same intensity level as I do. But it’s always been a common place for us to come together and make some incredible memories . Most importantly was a road trip that I put together when the girls were still young. We covered about 3500 miles in nine days. We covered the badlands, Yellowstone, various areas of southwest Wyoming, spent time in Colorado, and ventured back through the flatlands of the Midwest . From that trip both of my daughters learned that it’s a huge world out there so many different things to see and experience. Since then both girls have grown into their own individual ways. They seek out some of the most unique places to travel to across this country . They do everything from winter camping hiking kayaking hunting fishing and so much more. Just knowing I was able to pass that torch to them and to see them have the desire to go out and seek so many different types of adventures that they take on is so rewarding to me . There’s no way to describe the satisfaction as a father when your daughter calls you from a 14,000 foot peak just to say “dad I’m sitting up here thinking about you”

I got married almost 40 years ago on the WI opener. The pastor had a fit because he didn’t think he’d get to go fishing that day(The ceremony was for 2pm, and he was only a half mile away from his favorite lake). Long story short, we got 5″ of wet heavy snow that day. Ne never even tried to get out

Love this thread and reading the replies!

On the Regrets side of things, 9 months from Valentines day is second weekend of gun hunting in MN. Plan accordingly! Signed, Guy who’s first born has a November 14th bday. For those wondering we do Sunday afternoon bday parties.

BigWerm wrote:

Love this thread and reading the replies!

On the Regrets side of things, 9 months from Valentines day is second weekend of gun hunting in MN. Plan accordingly! Signed, Guy who’s first born has a November 14th bday. For those wondering we do Sunday afternoon bday parties.

Glad I’m not alone…. My first born was due on Nov 13, she showed up on the 5th instead…. She get’s her BDay Party the weekend before opener.

DeRangedFishinguy wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>BigWerm wrote:</div>
Love this thread and reading the replies!

On the Regrets side of things, 9 months from Valentines day is second weekend of gun hunting in MN. Plan accordingly! Signed, Guy who’s first born has a November 14th bday. For those wondering we do Sunday afternoon bday parties.

Glad I’m not alone…. My first born was due on Nov 13, she showed up on the 5th instead…. She get’s her BDay Party the weekend before opener.

I feel you guys’ pain. Like a pilgrimage, I chase big walleyes in march and April. Girl child #1 April 4th, girl child #2 March 4. Every year I prayed for the moon phase to fall in place from march 15 to march 30

Love the talk about kids birthdays at bad times lol

We planned the breeding season so our first kid would be born in the winter doldrums of 2015 (so birthdays would never interfere with a hunting season, any exciting fishing trips, or Christmas)

It backfired when they told us we were having twins, and they popped out 8 weeks early in the middle of December

Of course I was on a fishing trip 5 hours from home when her water broke (another great memory with my Dad) lol

Their birthdays have messed up a few early ice trips, but lately we’ve been hosing them and knocking out family Christmas with their birthday party at the same time

My father and mother took all six of us kids in a 1973 chevy station wagon camping for three weeks straight all around LATW followed by all around lake Superior when I was a junior in high school. We traveled like a gypsy band accompanied with the other football coach and family for part of it and the phy ed teacher and her mother for other parts of it. We crossed the border at I falls and the immigration officer took me out of the P.E. teachers camper as I was riding with them this part of the trip. He started questioning me with questions that pertained to me being abducted by these two women. About an hour later they fined the women for having too much food and sent us on our way. We left one of my brothers at a campground and didn’t miss him till we stopped at MacDonalds. One hour later we picked him back up. He was 13. Same trip my youngest brother and our cousin took a canoe off nw angle to walleye fish and the wind blew them across the lake to an island 1/2 mile or so away our little 14 ft 6hp couldn’t safely retrieve them so they spent the night under the canoe. At 66 yrs old now That would be a brief chapter one of my outdoor life. My father was a teacher and we always took at least two weeks off to camp when school was out.
Mike