Who . . . Me? Hardcore?
April 16, 2008
Our morning ritual is as follows: coffee, fire in fireplace, quick peek at the lake to see who’s who and what’s what (an advantage of having lakefront property). Dang! Sure not much movement - the little birds are not at the feeders and the squirrels not playing. What’s going on anyway?
On second look, the chill factor was below 10 degrees (don’t laugh, we do get cold weather here at Lake Fork) and the water was rockin’ and rollin’. The boats that have been quiet and dry in their nice comfy slings inside boat houses are getting motion sickness from all the swaying. Mr. Wind is splashing water up on the piers and slapping the retaining walls. Dense fog has moved in and we can hardly see past our boat house.
On top of all this, the sleety rain is falling and the temperature is dropping. Not even a decent day for the duckeroos, they most generally are busy little guys diving for food and playing. Hmmm, time for another log on the fire and a cup of coffee. Taking another look, lo and behold, there was an angler down there fishing. BRRRR! He was fishing pretty fast and seemed to be spending more time trying to maneuver his boat away from the boat docks. Now, that right there is a hard-core angler I don’t care what anybody says.
This scenario got me thinking; what is a hard-core angler anyway? The dictionary says “hardcore” is an adjective, and defines this person as: “Those whose condition seems to be without hope of remedy or change - absolutely unswervingly committed, uncompromising, dedicated, inflexible, and intensely loyal.”
Interestingly, there were also were some other definitions for hard-core .But that’s a whole ‘nother article right there! Coffee cup still in hand, I thought I’d take a survey on some of the fishing sites to see what makes an angler “hard-core.”
GK says: Freezing rain, temps in upper 20’s, it was so cold that my cats wouldn’t go out side. Normally, they’re pawing at the door. Now they just stick their nose out, and then turn and head toward the nearest chair.
Hoot says: We try to plan every vacation and every business trip around the possibility of fishing for something - anything that swims. We suffer from severe dehydration and lack of nutrition because we didn’t stop to eat or drink figuring we might miss” the big one.” I simply refuse to mow the lawn in a slight drizzle, but I’ll fish in a hurricane if I think the fish are biting. I have sutured up a severe cut from a rusty hook on an abandoned trot line that was snagged on the trolling motor using a small wire hook fashioned into a needle. Plenty of time later for a tetanus shot – no need to miss the rest of the day since lockjaw doesn’t set in for 48 hours.
Bassman says: Went to work the other day and it was minus 8 or minus 9 degrees with a nice 15 mph breeze out of the North. Those crazy guys were out there, sitting on 5 gallon buckets and watching that small hole in the ice.
Hillbilly says: Hard-core reminds me of a story. I was fishing a draw tournament near a bridge one day and at about 10:00AM I noticed a funeral procession crossing the bridge. My partner took off his hat and held it over his heart until the procession had passed. I was impressed and said, “You know, you just don’t see that kind of respect for the departed now days.” My partner turned to me and said,”Well, it’s the least I could do; I was married to her for 21 years.” (Yes I know, that’s really a golfing joke, but it applies anyway.)
Nevfitter says: I fish from first light till dark as long as it’s not too cold (or in my case not too hot). I like to fish till I drop. I had to be pulled off the lake when my wife went into labor but only happened once!
I’m wondering how many of us fall into the hard-core category? Hardcore fishing, that is.