One More Year

“WRITE IT ON YOUR HEART THAT EVERY DAY IS THE BEST DAY IN THE YEAR”
-RALPH WALDO EMERSON

A new year a new me? Nah not this guy… I plan on being the same ol’ Dave. 2016 has come to an end and we are greeted with a fresh new year. We often look at January 1 as a day that is a new beginning and we try to change in a way that we will better ourselves. I plan on doing just that; I am going to better myself but still be the same ol’ me…… how you ask?

Quite simply, I am going to do MORE!

I AM GOING TO FISH MORE

I AM GOING TO TRAVEL MORE

I AM GOING TO SEE MORE

I AM GOING TO FAIL MORE

I AM GOING TO LEARN MORE

I AM GOING TO DREAM MORE

Photo Credit: Joe Winston

THIS YEAR, I AM GOING TO DO MORE!
It has been but just a few short days and my desk calendar is already littered with ink. I have scratched in fishing tournaments, boat/fishing shows, kayak demo days, vacation and whatever else that I need to attend too. A majority of things I have on my calendar all revolve around fishing in some way. Even with the 2 weddings I have to be at, I am using that as opportunities to fish a few days prior.

I am also going to fish every tournament that I am able to enter. In turn this is going to put me traveling for pre-fishing and for tournament days. Exploring and fishing new areas is always a fun and rewarding experience; I have never gone somewhere new and had a dull moment. The Texas coast is going to be a majority of my traveling but I have a fly fishing trip for Trout in the Colorado River in Arizona and a Tarpon trip in Campeche, Mexico. I have invited some people to both trips and have not heard anything back. At this point I don’t care if I have to go by myself. I am tired of waiting on people; it is time to do more!

I am a firm believer that the best way of learning is by failing…….miserably. Having a degree from the ‘School of Hard Knocks’ is the most valuable piece of paper one can earn. That being said, the more I fail, the more I learn; no I am not going to go out and fail on purpose but it is inevitable so I might as well learn from it. This applies to fishing, kayaking, tournaments, photography and the list goes on.

For example, my tournament season was not near as productive as I was wishing for. I know it is fishing and it is kind of a crap shoot at times but you still have some control. I have heard it said that ‘Luck’ wins tournaments and I can not argue that point one bit but I am a firm believer that you have to be skillful enough to put yourself in a lucky situation. In order to be in this situation it takes a lot of time and effort to find the right fish. I had several tournaments this year where I produced some solid fish but they were 1/8″ to long. Is that bad luck? Am I cursed? The answer is no… my outcome on tourney day should not be skewed because of 1 or 2 fish being over the slot.

I did not put the time in like I should have. I remember one of my middle school teachers saying “Practice does not make perfect; perfect practice, makes perfect” Hard work pays off and this year I am going to do more of it.
The perfect tournament fish

I really do not know if this is possible or not but I plan on taking more pictures… like a lot. I really want to work on my photography skills and be able to produce more quality images. My goal this year is to have one of my photos on the cover of Texas Saltwater Magazine. I also want to start taking more pictures of wildlife and capture the moments of people enjoying the outdoors, on and off the water.

As of now there are 359 days left in this year and we are continuously counting down to 2018. That may seem like a lot of time but like always, we will wake up one morning baffled that it is already Christmas. Time is the only thing that is consistent in this world and it is something that we can never get back. As John Fogerty once said “Someday never comes”. The time is now; travel more, explore more, fish more, live more!

You have been granted one more year, how are you going to spend it?

Enjoy Life