I think all of the above posts I quoted offer a lot of self-insight and should be revisited...thanks for them, people...
Some casualties from 2011 2012....
1. A member of a popular surf fishing club is now divorced, his wife left him because of all the time he spent away from home fishing....
2. During this Winter fishing in NJ, I met a guy who was living in his camper to stay close to the fish...his numbers were fantastic...but someone else said the reason he's in that camper is because his wife divorced him, he got the camper, and she got the house....I'm really not sure where the truth lies in this one. I bring this up not to chastize or make fun of the guy...but to point out the possible risks of being out there all the time.....
3. Last week, I met and fished with another guy, who has been driving quite a distance, from out of state, to fish in NJ. Within a few minutes of talking to him, it became apparent he's a great fisherman, his numbers and stories (I know of the dates and times he referred to from also having great numbers those nights) are impressive, and his compulsion to fish puts him out there when most guys would feel it's not worth it....
Yet, within 5 minutes of meeting me, he was telling me that his wife left him because of his fishing....no matter, he said, he now has a girlfriend who doesn't mind....so he says...
These examples, together with the posts I cited, are telling examples of what happens when we let a love of fishing become an addiction....
Please understand, folks, that it's not up to me to judge these guys, I'm fishin, and whoever I run into becomes part of that experience...I feel the stories are vague enough that I can relate them here without potentially embarassing someone....
But they are all true....all true...
Many of the guys who have the highest numbers, have made extreme personal sacrifices, to get those numbers of fish....
And again, it's not my place to judge, as I also have those same addictive/Compulsive tendencies....