Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Oh the Butt Hurt!

1-26-2016 5:15AM
Someone Posted it.
No
Yes
Life just isn't fair
Filed in regards to Red Lake, Indian Netting, and Treaty Rights in general.
See Red Lake Walleye For Sale thread at Lakestatefishing.com

As per usual certain sportsmen are all worked up about those natives and their unfair fishing privileges.  I understand why the butthurt exists.  I just choose not to get worked up about it because it's not my circus and those are not my walleye.  It doesn't bother me in the least that the Indians have unequal rights with them getting the better end of the deal according to some MN sportsmen's perspective; If they choose to be butthurt that is their business.  I want no part of it.

Yeah, I was butthurt I couldn't fish Mille Lacs this past fall for walleye.  But I'm really butthurt that I can't legally target bass the second the ice is off the lakes and that has nothing to do with treaty rights.  I fish for other species instead, it's not a big deal.  Red Lake had amazing crappie fishing for a few years.  Then they restocked the Lake and the walleye fishing went gangbusters again.  It looks like do to a couple of late Springs that Mille Lacs is coming back with a strong batch of 15" to 17" eyes.  Lakes cycle, but the butthurt won't go away.  Oh well, life just isn't fair.

Sunday, November 15, 2015

I Guess You Could Say God And I Are Not On Speaking Terms At This Point In My Life

On my birthday, January 3rd of 2011, I published a long autobiographical blog entitled "What Do I Want From This Life?" 41st Birthday Lament.  This was the final paragraph:

"What do I want from this life?"
I want to love the Lord God with all my mind, heart, soul, and strength. But with what I've been through right now, I just can't seem to find much love. My mind seems dull, my heart is cold, my soul is in the wilderness, and my strength has failed me. 


Not much changed in my life until December 23rd, 2011, when I had a stroke in the middle of the night.  When my Dad found me.  I was semi-conscious, couldn't move the right side of my body, couldn't speak, and was seriously cognitively impaired.  I was fortunate in that my facilities began coming back to me fairly quickly.  I was out of the hospital in less than a week and, after a short stay in a nursing home/rehab facility, was back home by my 42nd birthday.  I had a few months of physical and cognitive therapy.  I recovered better physically than cognitively or emotionally.   I am less confident and more withdrawn.

But with what I've been through right now, I just can't seem to find much love. My mind seems dull, my heart is cold, my soul is in the wilderness, and my strength has failed me.

The problems I outlined in these sentences have only magnified post-stroke.  It's been almost four years since, and I am still in a kind of shock.

Even still, I believe God has a great love for me even though I really just don't understand it.  

I guess you could say God and I are not on speaking terms at this point in my life.  

What do I want from this life? 

For whatever reason, I decided not to publish this blog right away on the morning of 10/19/16.  I decided to post. 

Friday, August 15, 2014

Justice, Little Fish, Big Fish, Economics, and War


Experience informs some, but it doesn't necessarily tell any of us all of what we want to hear.  For now we see through a glass, darkly!

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Mike Hart Convicted

From WONnews.com: Mike Hart Case Closed, Pleads Guilty To Misdemeanor

My Commentary: Actually it's impossible to know if justice was served in this instance. It is possible, but I think unlikely, that this was the first and only time he tried to cheat. In that case he probably got what he deserved. However if he cheated more than once and profited from it, which I think is more than likely, than justice would only be served if he got the full force hammer blow indicated in the article. I am pretty sure a $1000 bucks is pretty meaningless to this guy, really a paltry slap on the wrist. The only true punishment is the disgrace he brought upon himself and the fact that he will probably never be allowed to fish a bass tournament again. But there is one caveat to my thinking on that. Most bass tournament organizations are secular in nature and are under no obligation to be forgiving. However, I do not believe the same holds true for Christian faith based tournament organizations. With that type of tournament trail or club, if there is evidence of true repentance then I think those trails/clubs would be betraying their core principles if they did not offer forgiveness and a path to reconciliation. I think that fact puts the Christian trails in a very tough position. On the one hand I think it would be wonderful if Mike Hart could find some measure of redemption for himself, but on the other hand the guy should man up and reap what he sowed. He doesn't deserve the privilege of the pursuit of the passion because criminal fraud is just not acceptable; it should be one strike and your out. I really hope he doesn't seek out a Christian trail to fish, but I think seeking to fish in a small Christian fishing club along the lines of the Fishers of Men Fishing Club would be ok, in fact would be a good thing.

Wednesday, September 07, 2011

A Song For Nate Wellman

Mea Culpa/Remember me by Undercover

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

"Dock Fishing" Angler Rights in Minnesota

Came across an excellent article spelling out the legal issues involved in fishing other people's docks from a boat in Minnesota.

Dock Fishing Rights and Obligations

I have been harassed by dock owners 5 different times, although the 1st time my fishing partner kind of had it coming. So far the people on Platte/Sullivan have all been cool, knock on wood.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

M Ward Fisher of Men

Nice little tune.
Hmmm apparently you have go to listen straight from Youtube. Go do it, it's a good song.

Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Good Advice!

3. Examine your self-esteem. Most of us look to please others or feel good about ourselves based on our performance. Negative self-talk feeds off of both of those. The truth is this: We are all immensely valuable creatures no matter what happens while we are fishing. In fact, fishing should have no negative impact on how we feel about ourselves at all. It is meant to be fun, therefore it should be like icing on the cake of life, not life itself.
From Advanced Anglers.com blog Mental Fishing by Charles Plott post The Voices In My Head

Sunday, March 06, 2011

Monday, February 14, 2011

The Up to Date Story of Kistler Rods


Hat Tip TipsNbass History of Kistler Rods Go read it.

I have never owned a Kistler and thus am not a Kistler guy, so I didn't know any of this stuff. I would guess most people don't know what has gone on. I am glad to hear they seem to have weathered the rough patch. I wish them success.

Friday, February 11, 2011

If this is it...Stay with me

This essay was written by my youngest brother Todd as a Facebook Note

If this is it...

Stay with me.

Take a moment to breathe that in for a moment. What if there is no life beyond life? What if all life is simply survival of the fittest? We are born, live in any way we see fit and we die and no longer exist except we turn to soil and feed for worms? What if that is it? Don't just push this away as a God vs. No God argument. Step in to life and death and a conversation about more...

I have been thinking about it for awhile for several reasons, but I will share one.

First, foremost, I learned recently of a friend who's wife died several months ago. I felt bad that I had not seen any post for months as he has been sharing his very raw journey as life as a single dad. I went back in his FB posts to find out more.(is that FB stalking?) I went back several months to when the posts rolled in from his close friends about their condolences. What really got me thinking was seeing the post a day or two before. It read something to the effect "I'm packing up work for the week and excited to put our son down early and watch a movie with my lovely wife." Life one moment and life gone in the next. I stared at that post and was reminded that no one knows the hour of their death. It comes and takes us all away. I thought for awhile, not too long, about what if this had happened to me. What if one day I was posting and the next people were sending me their condolences. What if I lost one of my wife or a daughter?

I spent time dwelling on the following question:

What if there was nothing after this life?

My conclusion:

Life would be a fricken rip off! It would be bullshit! Screw this place! It only took a minute to realize that nature would only be a cruel joke. That I am just blip in time and so was my marriage, child, my life. A blip and all I got out of it was 12 years with my wife, or all I got was 6 years with my daughter. Enough time to love something beyond understanding only for it to just pass to dust? If this is it, we got screwed by nature. If this is it? There is no hope. Sit on that for awhile.

If dust is all we become what is worth putting our hope in? More money, a few more toys to play with, an 117 year life? Hope in a really good beer? An excellent pasta dish? To travel to all 50 states? I hope I can make it to see the MN Twins play in Fenway Park? Wow, that is something to live for...

But aren't there things to aspire too? Live a good a life, leaving the world a better place than you found it? Good for you. In less than 250 years the chances that your blip has any meaning is not high and in reality your blip will only be in a history lesson. Why, because the past is somewhat meaningless because nature doesn't care(why should we? Problem is we do care down to the very depths of our being and what does that say? Certainly does not point us to the way of nature). All nature is doing is evolving, it will continue to move forward. If it does not it will die. Lovely picture isn't it?

Here is the part you won't expect. Let's not talk about faith because it is too much of a roadblock, just keep your thoughts in the realm of "Hope".

Too choose to accept that we are just a blip in the ride of evolution is a choice that I personally cannot accept.

I choose to believe in "HOPE". To not believe in hope is to accept an awful fate. I want a life after this because when the day comes and my heart is ripped out by a loss of magnitude of someone I love so deeply like my wife or children.(or their life is ripped to shreds because of my death). I choose hope. I choose to hope that one day I would see them again. You can keep your life as dust because I am going to believe big!

To my children and all those I love, but mostly this is for my children.

Choose HOPE! And I will see you again.

-Daddy

Tuesday, February 01, 2011

Pastor Greg Boyd on Faith

Video Here...

I have a great deal of respect for Pastor Greg Boyd and to his Church for a couple of years before I had my heart attack and moved North. I think he is a true giant of the Christian faith in terms of apologists. I think this is a message helpful to all Christians and non-Christians alike in terms of putting faith, doubt, truth, and the Bible in a proper perspective.