Two Years On

Goodness gracious, it's been two years since my last post here! OK, I've been busy elsewhere, including blogging over at my ham radio site. This blog got less and less attention as my interests drifted away a bit from guns, knives, fishing and politics. That's just how life goes. But I always knew I'd come back here. Life is cyclical, and I'm starting to circle back to those interests that drove this blog from the beginning. So a few updates...

Let's start with politics. My last post, in 2022, had me grousing about Joe Biden and his imbecilic behavior two years into his term. I NEVER thought we'd be where we are today, at the end of June 2024. I write this just a few days after Biden's disastrous debate performance against... Donald Trump!? In 2022 I thought Donald Trump was done as a viable political candidate and political force. Ron DeSantis, Ted Cruz, Nikki Haley and other Republican stars were on the rise, and nobody thought Trump had a chance in hell of securing another nomination. DeSantis in particular looked like an unstoppable force. Today, however, it not only looks like Trump has the Republican nomination sewn up, but he also has a better than even chance of taking the White House back. By focusing all their attention and venom on Trump, they've made him both a martyr and a hero to a solid and motivated core of Republican voters. Trump skillfully leveraged that to sweep aside all Republican opposition at the state level, locked up the party nomination and, from where we stand in early summer 2024, will lock up the Oval Office in November.

As I approach retirement (scheduled for early 2025), my lovely wife and I are spending more time contemplating the closing chapters of our lives. No, I'm not trying to sound morbid, it's just fact - we have more life behind us than ahead. But we intend to make the absolute best of what's left. That includes more time with the kids and grand kids, more camping & fishing, travel, getting the house sold and moving into a new, smaller and age friendlier place. 

Because we are planning to move, I've dialed way back on knife collecting/accumulation. I no longer actively collect, but I do keep my finger on the pulse of knife activity. It's a passion that will be with me until the end of my days. Sadly, if the 2024 Blade Show in Atlanta was any indication, the knife community is in decline. Oh, there's plenty of blades available, but the innovation and artistry of custom knife making has been stomped all over by fantasy and 'battle blade' makers. It seems these days that anyone with a Harbor Freight grinder can (and does) call themselves a knife maker. There was aisle after aisle lot of poorly thought out and poorly executed crap. The elegance of a beautifully conceived and executed blade was in short supply. I may write more on this later.

I still love to fish, and for over a decade I was exclusively focused on fly fishing. It's a craft that takes time to learn, and I focused on perfecting my cast and presentation, fly tying, approaching various species in differing environments. It was all fun, but I was always annoyed by the pretentiousness of the fly fishing crowd vs. everyone else on the water. You can walk into a fly fishing shop anywhere in the US and smell the distain for the spinning and bait casting guys that's seeped into the walls. Back in early 2023 my wife and I were camping on the shores of West Point Lake in Georgia. While packing for the trip, and I don't know why, I grabbed an old ultralight spinning outfit and a box full of spinners and jigs and tossed them into the camper. The next morning I found myself knee deep in West Point Lake, just a few feet from our camp ground, tagging small bass and bluegill with almost every toss of an old Mepps spinner. It had been years since I had that much simple fun while fishing. 

The difference between fly fishing and spin fishing is this - fly fishing is like having dinner reservations to a 4-star restaurant, getting dressed in your best tuxedo, driving to dinner in your Mercedes S-Class, eating small, delicate bites of entrees that have three figure prices and foreign names, and moving around the dance floor in choreographed routines designed to telegraph your elegance, style and wealth to all the right people. Spin fishing is like driving to a local dive bar in your 10 year old pickup truck, swilling cheap beer right out of the pitcher, drizzling nacho cheese all over your worn out jeans, and getting into a drunken fight with an Alabama fan. Both can be fun ways to approach fishing.

Today when I go fishing there's a fly rod and a spinning rod in the truck. If the fish seem to be hitting things on the surface, I'll use the fly rod. If they are holding deep I'll use spinning gear. Sort of a tuxedo in a dive bar approach. 😁

One thing's for sure - whether it's fly fishing or spin fishing, you can never have too many toys.

Stay sharp!