DES TAYLOR
I’m looking forward to better times ahead
Why having a positive outlook is the only way to stay sane
PEOPLE are constantly asking me what I’m doing with my time, now that I can’t go fishing.
Well, throughout this shutdown I’ve been feeling positive and doing positive things. Already I have rebooked my two cancelled trips – one to Holland after monster perch and the other a week in Texas after giant alligator garfish. Having something like that to look forward to with my mates really raises the spirits.
My wife Maggie, in turn, has rebooked a cancelled golfing trip with the girls to Portugal. When she’s away I always book a week’s fishing from my bivvy somewhere in the UK, so happy days for us both.
I think it’s important that we start planning for the future and hold on to our dreams. If one thing has come out of this shutdown it’s been a chance to look in the mirror and perhaps resolve to change something in our lives.
I hope that all you anglers who have been watching DVDs, downloads and YouTube, or reading books about fishing, will take some of this on board and not just return to sitting around a commercial two days a week.
Isn’t that what you have been doing for the past 10 years, and aren’t you getting a little bored with it?
The lockdown has certainly made me think about some of my friends that I haven’t been on the bank with for years – good friends and good company, but perhaps, in my eagerness to catch big fish on my own, I haven’t made the time for them that they deserve. That must change, because friends are more important than fish.
On the subject of angling films, it gave me a lift when my son-in-law sent me a photo of my granddaughter watching my own films that I released only a couple of weeks ago.
I feel happy that in years to come she will be able to share some of the great memories fishing have given me with her
friends and, later, maybe her husband, children and even her grandchildren. I like that.
Right now I’m busy getting my thousands of angling photographs into some kind of order, something I’ve been meaning to do for years. They are bringing me so much joy and highlighting so many things that I take for granted in this great sport of ours. Of course, there are the trophy photos of big fish, but the ones that bring the most smiles to my face are the dawn shots, the sun going down, the wildlife seen while I’m fishing and photos of new friends made in other parts of the country or indeed the world.
So many good times – and remember, there are so many still to come, so stay cheerful.