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Chad Love: How Field & Stream Ruined My Life
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September 23, 2009
Chad Love: How Field & Stream Ruined My Life
By Chad Love
By now many of you know I recently smuggled a loaded New Jersey horseshoe crab past the eyes of the TSA and on to an airplane. But several of you asked what I - a lifelong landlocked Oklahoma boy - was doing in New Jersey in the first place.
Two reasons. One, I had a strong hunch about the whereabouts of Jimmy Hoffa. Two, I've never (as in never, ever) caught a saltwater fish. I didn't find Jimmy, but oh boy did I find saltwater fishing. If you haven't yet seen it, do yourself a favor and go over to Joe Cermele and John Merwin's Honest Angler blog and watch Joe's latest "Hook Shots" video. It is simply epic.
Which brings up a couple problems. Big problems. You see, most addicts, whatever their addiction, start out with the small stuff, the so-called "gateway" activities. They break themselves in gently before graduating to the hard-core mind-blowing stuff. Like most of you I'm addicted to fishing, and I would have been quite happy breaking into the salt by sitting on a dock with a bobber and catching tourist fish. But thanks to Joe and the guys at F&S I just got a big dose of saltwater fishing's most highly-addictive narcotic.
Now I don't know if blue marlin has a street name, but I do know that mankind has not yet invented the drug that can compare to the feeling of watching such a fish rip line off your reel as it leaps across the blue ocean horizon. That experience doesn't merely etch itself into your memory, it sears itself, and in the process turns you into a quivering, haunted wreck of a man who only wants more, more.
Which brings up problem number two. According to Mapquest I live 633.64 miles away from the nearest saltwater, so how to feed this new-found addiction? You don't. You just try to go cold turkey and forget about it. Break the habit. The pain, the longing, will eventually subside, right? Until, of course, you're sitting around the boat afterward talking and Nate Matthews and Joe Cermele both say "hey, you should come up this spring when the big stripers are running!"
So thanks, guys. You've ruined my life. I hope you're happy.
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Comments (13)
What a great way to have your life ruined though, right?! haha.
Somebody done gone & got himself hooked. You can never have too many hobbies, I say. You can't do it all before you die but you can sure try.
Chad,
I hope my life is ruined the way yours was.
Again, Congratulations to you and the crew on a wonderful fish.
Be honest, how mnay times have you re-ran the hookshots video? Now, OK is not that far from the texas coast, just head on south and go catch a few redfish in the 20 pound range on medium tackle, that'll be like a cooldown exercise after a marathon.
"[T]o feel that fish in his rod, to feel that power and that great rush, to be a connected part of it and then to dominate it and master it and bring that fish to gaff, alone and with no one else touching the rod, reel or leader, is something worth waiting many days for, sun and all, and as said, while you wait there is plenty of time to think. A good part of the things you think about are not put into a magazine printed on shiny paper and designed to go through the mails. Some they can put you in jail for if you write and others are simply no one’s business but a great part of the time you think about fish.”
- Ernest Hemingway, “Out in the Stream: A Cuban Letter,” Esquire, August 1934
Ha! I just can't imagine. So, when are you going back for the tuna?
The outdoors ruined my life long ago....to many trails to hike and streams to fish to fit in a masters degree in anything....so much for being an Astronaut or the President...but if that 150+ whitetail cooperates this fall I'll have zero regrets...
Chad,
The first step is to admit you have a problem.....LOL
Chad you went false ablies and Tog, to offshore crack! seriously, you did great!! and thanks for letting me share it with ya. you are OK you Oakie and get back out here in the spring and we will get you a big bass! you are welcome to fish with me anytime!
Why thanks you, Chad. All of us are glad we ruined your life and we are happy!
Too bad I didn’t know of you back in 86-90, I would have invited you up were you carry a rifle on your shoulders and in one hand a fly rod and a good surf rod with 30 pound plus line in the other for some dynamite good time!!
What part of the Sooner State you in? I’m debating whether or not to get a nonresident hunting license and hunt the family property down in Page or just hunt Arkansas.
I can fully sympathize with your addiction. I experienced the same thing to the point that I chucked a budding career and bought a charter boat away back when. Unfortunately, that was like going to work in the cookie factory, and after sixteen years I lost my taste for cookies. The old cravings still resurface from time to time, but they are easier to satisfy now.
Go ahead and indulge yourself as much as you can and gather some great experiences while you're doing it. One of the great benefits of this addiction is that you can always eat the fish. Tight lines!
I was really stunned to see how young all you guys are in the video. Go for it!
And he wanted to go over to PETA!
BBBOOOORRRRRIIIINNNNGGGG!!!
Darn sgaredneck, I wished I said that!!!
A +1 for you!!!
Plenty of BIG fish in the Gulf, your not that far away and F&S will probably spring for the outfitter right?
It was great having you all aboard, and you did a fantastic job on that fish. BUT!!!!! You're making me feel like a drug dealer! Well I have the solution.....
It's an airplane ticket away. "C-JAM" Our door is open your welcome anytime.
Post a Comment
Chad,
The first step is to admit you have a problem.....LOL
What a great way to have your life ruined though, right?! haha.
Be honest, how mnay times have you re-ran the hookshots video? Now, OK is not that far from the texas coast, just head on south and go catch a few redfish in the 20 pound range on medium tackle, that'll be like a cooldown exercise after a marathon.
"[T]o feel that fish in his rod, to feel that power and that great rush, to be a connected part of it and then to dominate it and master it and bring that fish to gaff, alone and with no one else touching the rod, reel or leader, is something worth waiting many days for, sun and all, and as said, while you wait there is plenty of time to think. A good part of the things you think about are not put into a magazine printed on shiny paper and designed to go through the mails. Some they can put you in jail for if you write and others are simply no one’s business but a great part of the time you think about fish.”
- Ernest Hemingway, “Out in the Stream: A Cuban Letter,” Esquire, August 1934
Somebody done gone & got himself hooked. You can never have too many hobbies, I say. You can't do it all before you die but you can sure try.
Chad,
I hope my life is ruined the way yours was.
Again, Congratulations to you and the crew on a wonderful fish.
Ha! I just can't imagine. So, when are you going back for the tuna?
The outdoors ruined my life long ago....to many trails to hike and streams to fish to fit in a masters degree in anything....so much for being an Astronaut or the President...but if that 150+ whitetail cooperates this fall I'll have zero regrets...
Chad you went false ablies and Tog, to offshore crack! seriously, you did great!! and thanks for letting me share it with ya. you are OK you Oakie and get back out here in the spring and we will get you a big bass! you are welcome to fish with me anytime!
Why thanks you, Chad. All of us are glad we ruined your life and we are happy!
Too bad I didn’t know of you back in 86-90, I would have invited you up were you carry a rifle on your shoulders and in one hand a fly rod and a good surf rod with 30 pound plus line in the other for some dynamite good time!!
What part of the Sooner State you in? I’m debating whether or not to get a nonresident hunting license and hunt the family property down in Page or just hunt Arkansas.
I can fully sympathize with your addiction. I experienced the same thing to the point that I chucked a budding career and bought a charter boat away back when. Unfortunately, that was like going to work in the cookie factory, and after sixteen years I lost my taste for cookies. The old cravings still resurface from time to time, but they are easier to satisfy now.
Go ahead and indulge yourself as much as you can and gather some great experiences while you're doing it. One of the great benefits of this addiction is that you can always eat the fish. Tight lines!
I was really stunned to see how young all you guys are in the video. Go for it!
And he wanted to go over to PETA!
BBBOOOORRRRRIIIINNNNGGGG!!!
Darn sgaredneck, I wished I said that!!!
A +1 for you!!!
Plenty of BIG fish in the Gulf, your not that far away and F&S will probably spring for the outfitter right?
It was great having you all aboard, and you did a fantastic job on that fish. BUT!!!!! You're making me feel like a drug dealer! Well I have the solution.....
It's an airplane ticket away. "C-JAM" Our door is open your welcome anytime.
Post a Comment