Fish Envy

Saturday was our last day at the beach. I wanted to get one more day of fishing in, if at all possible, without taking away from spending time with the boys. So, I got up at 6:00 am and went on down to the pier. While buying my fishing pass, I decided to buy a couple of new rigs and try something different than plain ol' bottom fishing. I even bought a bucket of minnows.

Things started off great. On my second cast, I had hooked something. Just as I had him reeled above the surface of the water, he shook himself off. This isn't a "the one that got away" story, but it was a nice size bluefish that would have been good eating. I was encouraged. Today I would catch some fish.

I baited another minnow and threw out my line. As the guy standing five yards to my left landed another blue, I felt a tug on my line. I went to set the hook and could tell there was nothing. I waited for the fish to make a second try, and sure enough he did. The tug was harder, but the hook did not set. I waited some more. After waiting long enough to realize I better check my bait, I reeled in my hook to find nothing but the head of the minnow left. I'm guessing a hungry blue took the rest.

But I'm still encouraged. Baiting another minnow, I try again. Nothing. More nothing. I changed rigs and go to a more traditional setup, like the guy to my left. He's pulling in fish every few minutes. I use the same rig, the same bait, cast into basically the same spot. He's catching fish. I'm not. At 9:30 I call it quits to go body boarding with the boys and get some breakfast.

In the course of those few days I was on the pier, I watched several people, all using the same lure, pull in bluefish almost at will. At a minimum, I watched people cast out and retrieve this plug with a 25% success rate. In other words, every fourth cast yielded a fish. After my wife saw it in action, she gave me permission to go buy one from the pier tackle shop and give it try.

I excitedly attached the plug to my line. I anxiously cast out and began retrieving the lure. After about ten tries - nothing. Meanwhile, a guy down the pier using the exact same lure is landing a fish every fourth cast. I watched what he was doing to see what I could do differently. For starters, he was able to cast out about twice as far me. Secondly, he had perfected the little jerking motion you are supposed to use while retrieving the lure. I surmised the problem was I was not quite reaching the fish. When I asked him how he was able to cast so much farther than I, his answer was, "This is a $350 rod and reel. You probably aren't going to get it out that far."

I accepted that answer. I had inferior equipment. He then added that I was using too heavy a line. He recommended I not use more than 12 lb. line. I tried for about ten more minutes. I figured bluefish were not in my immediate future. I gathered up my stuff and called it a day.

Knowing Sunday was Fathers Day, I went back to the camper and dropped hints for a $350 rod and reel. However, as I analyzed this man's answer, it did not make sense, at least in terms of pricey reels. He was using a spinning reel, same style as me. The reel has nothing to do with the casting in that setup. Maybe he was just plain better and didn't know it. Maybe he liked to brag about his expensive equipment. Maybe he didn't really know and was giving his best guess. I'm guessing the experience and skills had more to do with it than anything. Luckily, I can develop those much quicker than I can buy a $350 rod and reel.

Besides crying about not catching any fish, why do I write this? We all encounter things in our lives that we enjoy doing, feel called to do, or just want to try. We don't always encounter success in those things. We watch the people around us doing the same things and they have lots of success. We are faced with a bunch of different options - quit, keep trying, get help or training, find satisfaction with our current performance, or live in a state of frustration.

You might call this a stretch, but I think the only option for someone on a faith journey is to keep trying and do it for the glory of God - even fishing. We are told to do everything we do for the glory of God. That's going to require a lot of prayer. You're going to want to quit. You're going to wonder if you should keep doing it. You're going to wonder if this is a real calling or just a pipe dream.

Of course not everything carries the same importance as catching a cooler full of bluefish, but those things that do should be continued. At some point, you are going to be called to do something and you will feel like you have no success. Just because it's a calling doesn't mean you will have great results. You will see friends, colleagues, and others doing the same thing with a lot better results. Success can only be measured by your faithfulness to the task. As long as you are faithful, you are successful. If you are using any other definition, you are using the wrong one. Everything else leads to fish envy.

Just a thought . . .