Gainful Employment and Fishing:
The Correlation

I’ve been unemployed for almost 90 days now. Losing my job didn’t come as a shock; I knew that I was going to be let go in a matter of days. What’s been a shock is how long it has been taking me to find a new job. No, it’s not the market or the economy, it’s not a lack of jobs calling for my qualifications; I’m just really bad at interviewing. I panic, tend to not give too many details in my responses, and my thoughts are not real organized. How on earth I landed the few jobs and promotions I have had, I have no idea. But, I stray from my point.

Once I found out about the upcoming downsizing, I was pretty cool about the whole thing. I thought, “Great, more time to spend with my newly adopted daughter, and more importantly – more time to fish!” Ah…there’s nothing better than a short-lived fantasy and a big ol’ slap of reality upside the noggin. Yes, I’ve been spending gratuitous amounts of time with both my children, adopted and otherwise. They seem to be enjoying the time as well, and my oldest is excited he’s not spending his days at an ill-equipped daycare, only having toys for toddlers and the like. My daughter – recently adopted from Russia – is learning English in leaps and bounds. She has learned how to dribble a basketball, open a juice box, and that stoves are hot – all the important things in life. Yet, I’m not fishing. I have realized the direct correlation between the amount of time I spend at work and the amount of time I get on the fishing boat.

Back in the days when I gave 50-60 hours of my time each week to an unappreciative, cheap with the money, richer and than rich CEO employer, I spent a good 10-15 hours on the fishing boat. Sometimes I’d fish on the weekends, other times I’d fish right after work, and every so often I would take a day off of work to fish. Great – plenty of fishing. I guess now that I’m not working, I can’t fish “after work”, and I don’t have anything to take a day away from – no vacation time to fish. My weekends are like any other day, except my wife doesn’t leave the house for 10 hours each day. She’s about the only adult interaction I have, so I want to spend that time with her. I know what you’re thinking, but remember, I’m not working. I don’t have an office of co-workers that I see each day, there’s no happy hour for unemployed guys, and I’m not barraged with phone calls and emails throughout the day. Instead, my days are filled with the highs and lows of adolescents trying to figure out when Dad turned into a bum. So, yes, I want to spend time with my wife, and selfishly ask her to tell me about ‘work’. But again, I digress.

Obviously, fishing is not an option for me. Sure, I can take the kids to the local fishing pier and drown worms for the sake of catching hoards of post-spawn sunfish. But this has all the excitement of nailing a board to the top of my foot with a claw hammer. It’s great to see their little faces light up with every fish, but I now know that every time one of them gets a fish, I’m digging for another worn. It loses its charm. I can’t take them in the bass boat; they’re good for 10 minutes of fishing, then they just want to rip all my soft plastics apart. When I had a job, I wasn’t too bothered by that. Now that I’m unemployed, I see a dollar sign with each shredded worm. It’s not as easy to support my hobby as it was when I was working.

Everything costs money. We take so much for granted when we have discretionary income. Now I look at everything as a cost, regardless of how miniscule. I bet it costs a buck or two to charge my trolling motor batteries after each use. If I fish 26 weeks a year, that’s forty or fifty bucks that I’m throwing away just in electricity! And have you taken the time to think about how much electricity you use on a fishing boat? The livewell pumps, the bilge pump, the anchor and navigations lights, starting the motor, the depth finder, the GPS, the radio, the trolling motor – it all costs money in the long run. Don’t get me started on lures; jigs are running anywhere from $2-5 depending upon the brand you buy. I lost three of those, and had to sacrifice our family a night out at McDonalds. Even silly plastic worms cost a mint. At four to six bucks a bag, it hurts when a rock bass tears one worm to shreds – probably even more than when the kids tear them apart. If it’s not lures and electricity I’m burning through, it’s gas and oil. I put gas in the truck, and then I fill the boat. Ninety dollars later, I’m driving down the road burning more gas, so I can launch my boat and burn the fresh fuel out of that. Back when I was employed my 150HP Yamaha had a nice rumble to it. Now when I slam down on the throttle it sounds more like a toilet flushing my wallet. Everything costs.

No time; no money. As crazy as it sounds, I need a job so I can fish more! There is a direct correlation between my gainful employment and my time on the water. I just didn’t think it would be this correlation.

Soon to be homeless,

Bob Wood