Whether we spend our lives on a boat trolling for halibut or in an office shuffling papers, I think each of us has a little fisherman inside of us. It's the part of us that refuses to let anything stand between us and what we want. Be it other people, nature, or common sense. It's the part of us that is determined to overcome anything to get what we feel that we need. Well being a positive thing that can help us to accomplish our goals, the little fisherman that lives within each of us can also be a very dangerous thing. Quite often when faced with change that involves new and unfamiliar things, the little fisherman that lives within each of us will react with confusion and anger that is primarily a result of our fear of the unknown. It is important that we learn new things and are willing to change our lives when necessary. As stated before, the little fisherman that lives within each of us will be hesitant when it comes to this. But we must be willing to take control of the little fisherman that lives within each of us so that it can be used for good. The little fisherman that lives within me is named Eddie Torres and he sometimes makes me do bad things, but that's another story.
FISHING PUBLICTIONS
In the next few paragraphs I'm going to attempt to give you, the reader, insight into the various publications that are available in the fishing industry. I do this in the hopes that you may better come to understand the fisherman that lives within you. Because that is one of the most important things in life (almost even as important as remembering to wear pants in public, speaking of which, I really need to get some new pants. At one point I had something like thirty pairs of the same pants. No joke, they we're like $3 a pair at the Bay Clearance Centre in Surrey. So I figured if I dropped like a $100 on pants right then I'd be set for the next few years. I was right because these pants have lasted me the last eight years and I haven't even worn half of them yet. So if you figure out my cost of pants per year, that only works out to like $12.50 a year or about $1.04 a month or just 3.5 cents a day ((this is starting to sound like one of those feed the children things, "for just 3.5 cents a day you can feed a child in a third world country".)). So anyway, it was a really wise investment. There has been one problem though, I've become board with my pants. I tried making some into shorts. This helped but only temporarily. Recently I've developed a real love for what I call geriatric pants, or old man pants. I seem to be able to find them at thrift stores for about $3 or $4 a pair. The only problem with them is that they require dry cleaning which costs more then the pants do, so I've ended up wearing the pants until they start smelling really bad, throwing them in a stinky pile in my room and buying a new pair. As you can imagine, as time goes on the pile has grown. I probably could just throw out the old pairs, but I fell like that would be a waste and I've grown really attached to some of these pants and hope that I will someday find a cheap dry-cleaning place so that I can once again wear them.).
My favorite of the fishing industry publications is "National Fisherman" because they always have great cover stories. The one I'm reading right now has a picture of a guy screaming on the cover accompanied with the title, "Screamers! Skippers who scream, and the crew members who love them.". How could you not like a magazine with such amazing articles! They also have a section called "At Sea" where they send one of their corespondents out into the field to spend time with real live fisherman, complete with pictures and everything. This publication also appears to be written primarily by fishermen which really gives the reader a realistic insight into the world of the fisherman. It also features witty columns, lots of informative ads, tons of practical advice and classifieds. In fact this is where my only complaint with this publication lies, the classifieds. It just contains buying and selling classifieds, no personals. I'm fortunate enough to have daily contact with fishermen, but what about those who wish to spend time with fishermen and have no way of making that connection or even lonely fishermen who desire the companionship of fisherwomen. Where do they go to find those special relationships. Sure, the life of a fisherman is filled with excitement and adventure, but there are those other eight months of the year, since the fishing season is only four months long, when fishermen must find other things to do to occupy their time.
Next up is "The Fisherman", which is published right here in beautiful Vancouver, BC. This is a newspaper that comes out on the third Friday of each month. It kind of reminds me of a community newspaper for the fishing industry here in the lower mainland. This paper is far to informative and not nearly as entertaining or as fun to read as "National Fisherman" and they charge $1 for a twenty page newsprint publication as opposed to $2.95 for "National Fisherman" which is an oversize magazine with a nice glossy color cover and is usually over eighty pages in length. This is still good for gaining an understanding of the little fisherman that lives within us, but unfortunately it overlooks the fun-loving, good-spirited side that is such an essential part of the fisherman.
I was originally going to slag "Westcoast Fisherman" because it has a cover price of $3.95 and is less than half the size of "National Fisherman", which is quickly becoming the standard by which I judge all other fishing industry publications against. So I was thinking that this magazine wasn't the best bang for your buck, so to speak, until I noticed something. This magazine has fun contests where you can win cash and prizes! And who doesn't love cash and prizes (Notice the absence of a question mark? That's because this is a rhetorical question and therefore no question mark is needed because the answer is obvious, everyone loves cash and prizes!). Also this magazine features profiles on some pretty hot fishing industry babes, which as stated above was kind of missing from "National Fisherman". They also have book reviews and a fine events calendar, which can also help to fill up that free time in the fisherman's life, when he's not out their catching cod or poke-polling for monkey-face eel. So if you've got an extra $7 a month to shell out for both "National Fisherman" and "Westcoast Fisherman" you can definitely learn to fully understand the little fisherman that lives within you. Heck, if you have an extra $1 then go for "The Fisherman" also and you'll be ready to completely master and harness the power of the little fisherman that lives within you.
