My 2023 Fishing and Writing Mistakes

This website is mostly about celebrating the good things that come out of a fishing lifestyle – especially when enjoyed with your spouse, family and friends, using the best possible gear for the task. Nevertheless, part of what makes fishing so intriguing and addictive is that you can never perfect it. Indeed, an odd part of its allure is that you have to learn from your mistakes.

Running our own website and business has likewise been a learning experience. Again, it has generally been rewarding, but we’ve stumbled along the way. In the interest of transparency, here are some of the various mistakes that I made in 2023. I’m sure there will be more mistakes every year hereafter – ideally they won’t be the same ones.

Facebook Hacked! -- This one had the potential to be the most damaging and yet in some ways it was also the most enlightening – in September, I woke up one day unable to log into my Facebook account. I’d been hacked, and despite significant efforts to get the account back, after a week I realized that it was likely a lost cause and I moved on to a new account. Unlike the many people who use Facebook extensively and complain about it incessantly, I like the free service. I think the good outweighs the bad, especially for my social and business purposes. I need it to promote my writing and our trips. Nevertheless, the week without the service illuminated just how addicted I am to it and how toxic it can be at times. Yes, I “lost” a dozen or so years of memories, but starting over gave me the chance to expunge many of the toxic actors and activities that hurt the experience. Lesson learned. Another lesson learned is that I need to be more internet-security-savvy. Hanna had been lecturing me for years on strong passwords and two-factor authentication and it took this development to make me take that seriously.

Lesson Learned: If you take anything away from my hardship, it should be that you need to protect your digital self diligently.

Passport Delays -- As I wrote previously, Hanna was the one to point out that my passport was due to expire in 2024, and that with historically long delays in the renewal process and a gap in our international travel schedule, mid-2023 was the time to get it done. Fortunately a kind postal clerk helped us through the process to make sure that we filled out the application properly. Unfortunately, she didn’t know that the passport picture that I submitted was the same one that I’d used the last time I’d renewed. It has to be taken within 6 months of the application, and the reviewer likely never would have known, except for the fact that it was exactly the same. So while Hanna got her new book back in far less than the expected 7-9 weeks, I got a letter stating that I had to get a new picture, send it back, and then wait. It added about four weeks to the process, which didn’t make a difference in terms of my travel, but could if you’re on a tighter schedule.

Lesson Learned: Slow down and read the damn directions.

Venice Opportunity Missed -- Early in the season one of the tackle companies invited me to my choice of three junkets – Texas largemouths in April, Venice redfish in June or Minnesota smallmouths in September. Normally I’d have a hard time choosing among the three (and might have lobbied for two) but with Guatemala in February, the Classic in March, El Salto in June and Alaska in July/August, I felt that September was the best choice for keeping my job – even though I was probably most anxious to catch redfish. As it turned out, the September trip was canceled as I was getting on my plane to go to Alaska, so I missed out on the other two.

Lesson Learned: I suppose the lesson learned here is that you take what you want and let the chips fall where they may. Realistically, though, the initial choice was a reasonable one, and when another company invited me to an October trip to Charleston for redfish it all worked out. I would’ve had to say no if I’d already gone in September or possibly even in June.

No New Writing Outlets -- I am fortunate to have a lot of ongoing writing outlets and writing client relationships, and without any real hunting effort on my part those once again grew in 2023. They were all endemic to fishing media or companies, though. One of the highlights of my writing career was getting published in Texas Monthly (as well as Goat Rancher Magazine) and despite my vows to continue to search out atypical outlets my busy writing schedule gave me an excuse not to do so. Even if such efforts are mostly unsuccessful, I’m confident that something good will come of them, so I need to reinvigorate those inquiries in 2024.

Lesson Learned: No matter how good things are going, you can’t rest on your current workload. The media landscape and the fishing industry are constantly changing, and if I don’t make efforts to stay ahead of the game I may not have ample opportunities when I leave my full-time attorney job in a few years.

Mouse-Free Alaska -- One of the best parts of our 2020 trip to Alaska occurred on the last day on the water, when Hanna started throwing a topwater fly rod mouse and whacking grayling and rainbows on it. I was too lazy to switch, and while I probably caught just as many fish I didn’t get to experience those vicious surface strikes. For three years I visualized and planned for that bite, but then when I got up there I total forgot about it. It was still a great trip, but I regret that I was so caught up in the moment that I ignored my promise to myself.

Lesson Learned: In the midst of every fishing trip, no matter how great or how difficult, step back for a moment and evaluate your remaining time to make sure that you take a stab at accomplishing everything you want to try, and maximizing the remainder of your trip. We won’t be back to Alaska until 2025 or possibly 2026 and now I have to continue to dream of the mouse bite.