GETTING BONETASTICALLY CRAZY…

In the dark morning hours, Freeport is quiet - the hotel, the lobster, the water, and even the fish. We are so excited, and can’t believe we are here. Surf and indigenous waterfowl are kind, mysterious and awakening sounds coming forth. We await our guide to pick us up from the Westin. Plush and inviting, this resort is nothing short of spectacular. However, we are up before dawn and have left our wives behind on this day for one reason, and one reason only – BIG BONES, and whiskey.

Westin - Our Lucaya

We begin with an hour long ride to McLean’s Town by van. To ensure we are prepared for the pace, the driver creeps along at 45 miles per hour, which is fast given the Bahamian way of life, “slow and easy mon”. This is absolutely nothing like speeding down I-35 from Austin, TX to San Antonio on a Saturday morning. We get used to it quickly though, because we actually enjoy the scenery and the conversation with the van driver. As we get further into our winding journey, we notice the damage done by hurricanes past, and the sheer beauty of this island culture. Many local people around us are living off the land, fishing, farming, and raising their children like people from anywhere else. Comparatively, many of these islanders live in poverty, in small huts and cabanas. We notice that all of them are waving, smiling, and greeting us as we cross into their villages. Can you imagine if you saw this type of welcome in NYC? You would think it was a float parade. Generous tips here can make a restaurant owner’s month. But, these people also have a few things to show the world. The real lesson given by the people here comes when you make friends with them. Their true passion for the water, sport, life, relaxation, pride in family, and overall friendliness is unmatched. To give yourself a reward for a decade of work, you come here - or if you want to treat your buddy to a serious sporting event of a lifetime before he gets married. The setting is perfect, the weather is perfect, and the water is gin clear.

Beautiful!!

We begin our fishing day at the docks of McLean’s Town, where we meet our guide, Bernard. He is a crazy character with a lifetime of bonefishing experience. I can only imagine the stories he has locked away in memory, pulling fallen drunk tourists from the water, eating raw snapper caught from his boat, or unleashing the fury of the Bahamas best bones on a first timer. This is a guy whom you trust with your life. He “IS” the Bahamas, live and in person. Young, wild, smart, and dedicated, he claims he will take us to the hottest spots for HUGE schools of bonefish, pole in hand, and Backwoods cigar in mouth. Classic. We are made bonefish believers in no less than a 10 minute boat ride from the dock. Initially, Bernard gave us some coaching on the style of casting that works best in these conditions. I had my 10 wt. Thomas and Thomas ready to unleash hell on these Bones! I’ve done this before. He recommended a delicate casting technique as not to spook the fish in their schools. Before we got serious though, he speared two lobsters for our lunch.

Bernard - Guide and Coach!

As we approached the first flats area, I could see shimmering on the surface of the water less than 12 inches deep. Thinking it was only the sun’s first rays and my mind playing tricks on me from at least 6 margaritas the night before, I inquired to Bernard…”That water sure is shiny over there eh mon?”, I said. He replied, “Yeah mon, those bones are 300 or more!” “WOW” is all I could say!!!!!

Gorgeous Flats!!

My first cast was with the brown crab pattern fly (rubber legs) and was horrible due to wind. Of course, it was actually due to the fact that my casts sometimes suck. The second cast was right in the middle of the school, sending approximately 150 fish left and 150 fish right. Not good. The third cast set was better, on the edge of the tailing school, and so then I listened carefully to my guide – “1 o’clock, more left, more left, more left, shoot, strip, strip, pause, strip, stop, wait, wait, …SET. I hooked up on my first big bone of the day. This one took me into my backing in lets say, 18 seconds or so, like UT’s Vince Young running for his final collegiate touchdown against USC in the 2005 National Championship. SEE YA!

What an amazing fight! I felt like I was on the end of a tug of war with a St. Bernard, as guided by Bernard of course. As the fish was tiring and coming near the boat, Bernard said, look, SHARK!!!! The wounded bone had attracted a black tip shark into the flats to feed. Luckily, I landed the bone before it could become breakfast for the shark. As I released the fish into the water, I could only imagine its impending doom knowing the shark would still be nearby waiting to dine on this tasty morsel.

NICE BONE!

My buddy Steve Hilsabeck and I agreed to switch after each fish caught, so this was his turn. Steve is an amazing guy, VP of a bank, and first time flyfisher. He was here in the Bahamas for the first time, to get married. I wanted him to feel the true joy of bonefishing, so he would know it and then come to love it. Bernard gave him some lessons one on one, and Steve got started with a bang. Five casts into his storied career as a flyfishing enthusiast, Steve lands a huge bone. The Thomas and Thomas performed very well paired with a Ross large arbor reel. Steve was giddy, like a school girl on her first day of middle school. He sang praises to Bernard, and to the bone, to me, and even cheered when the bone took him to his backing. This moment was worth all of those shots of whiskey he made me do throughout our long friendship.

GO STEVE!!!

Once he landed the bone, we released it and again it was my turn. After trading off 10-12 times in this fashion, we had to call it a day. More importantly, the lobsters were waiting to be eaten, and of course, we did a few shots to celebrate. So F-town and Hook Em Horns as shown became song material, and the memory will remain forever.

Hook 'em Horns and Freeport Town!

We blew up the bones in Mclean’s Town, Bahamas, but more importantly, we learned a lot about Bahamian life, culture, people, water, wildlife, and fish. We took a grand tour of the Bahamian flats firsthand, led by one of the most sincere and trusted coaching guides on the planet. His skill, coaching approach, humor, and wisdom were amazing. He taught us how to appreciate life again, and how to sing to the fish, how to use stealthy casts, and how to laugh at ourselves. To our good friend Bernard, we love you man!!

Bernard -The man, the myth, the coach!

Several days ago a small group of Hard Working Dads returned to their respective homes from Northern California.  This special weekend was dedicated to helping those guys out there who bust their bunions every day doing the work and family thing. We love our families and most of us love what we do. It was just great getting together as a group of guys, who have different backgrounds, but very similar stressors. It always amazes me how people who don’t know each other can have so much in common. When you are standing in the water surrounded by beautiful scenery, waving a graphite stick in the air at some trout, everyone quickly becomes equal. Doctors, engineers, and educators are all on the same level playing field. For those few hours we are all just trout bums. This group of bums laughed together, ate great food, had some nice wine and talked about some of the concerns which keep us up at night.

All within a couple of days, we fly fished Hat Creek, the Fall River, the Pit River, and Burney Creek.  A special aspect of our fly fishing activity was to go out after suppers to the Fall River. The Fall River is a boat access only spring creek (meaning the river water is generated by huge springs)  which at this time of year experiences the annual Hex hatch. The Hex or Hexagenia is a type of aquatic bug (mayfly) which emerges from below the water surface as darkness approaches. These mayflies are very large (about two inches) and present themselves as a complete delicacy to the trout.  One could just about set their clock by the 9:15 p.m. emergence. The hatch continued for about thirty minutes which conveniently was the legal time to quit fishing (30 minutes after sunset) in California.

The Hex hatch provided a great time for all. Without an exception those in our group expressed how “cool” it was trying to cast and bring fish in, in the near dark or dark. Not only did we find some great rainbow trout but one of our members even accidentally hooked a muskrat. Everyone especially appreciated our catch-and-release policy with that one!

Our staff can heartily recommend those beautiful Northern California waters to anyone. Our local guides were great and our Hard Working Dads were not only rejuvenated but left with a few down-to-earth tools to help them cope in this crazy working world of ours.  For all the other Hard Working Dads out there that were not at the Hex hatch our thoughts are with you. We hope you understand the importance of connecting with nature and bonding with your brothers.  No matter what we do for our work, we guys benefit from being challenged by nature at it’s best.

If you were not able to join us this year we hope to see you at next years Hex hatch. In the mean time perhaps we can connect on the Madison River in Montana at our Conflict Management event July 31- August 2, 2008. Those fish will make your arm sore!

Here’s to Growth,

Tim

Stress is natural, right – right. Stress management used to be quite trendy. Today it almost appears to be a given that people will be stressed. Just look at the coffee and energy drink market. That is actually, kind of, good news. Perhaps we have grown up over the last couple of decades when we thought all stress was bad. Well all stress is not bad. In fact some stress is actually good. A few years back, someone coined the term, eustress. Eustress is taken after the word euphoria. Eustress is standing in the line at your grad-school graduation just before you receive your diploma with honors. You are stressed about all those people out there, but you are also proud and excited about starting your new job. If you get the whole good cholesterol –bad cholesterol idea then you should get this. If eustress is the good stress then distress is the bad stress.

So what is distress? Distress is one’s perception of physical or emotional threat. Physical or emotional threat can come in any form. Think about it. Winning the lottery should definitely be perceived as good, right? Not if your relatives and friends from far and wide show up at your door like a swarm of spring time carpenter ants. All of them buzzing and munching, just trying to get their greedy little pinchers on your loot.

One thing you are experiencing during distress is a release of the thyroid hormone in your bloodstream. Back in caveman and cave-woman days there was an original benefit to this hormone rush. Thyroid hormones speed up the body’s metabolism. The body thus burns its fuel faster, to provide extra energy, much as a turbocharger helps your car.

The drawback today is that at our level of distress, we often overuse the thyroid. As such we may experience an intolerance to heat, shaky nerves to the point of jumpiness, guaranteed weight loss under distress (if food intake remains constant), insomnia, and ultimately exhaustion or burnout. While some obese people react to stress by gaining weight, this is only because they actively work at overwhelming their thyroids with extra calories.

One outcome of excess thyroid being exhaustion or burnout encourages people to try to artificially stimulate themselves. Note they are trying to stimulate the overly stimulated. Hum, do you hear a crash coming? While it is well to note that the term energy drink is actually a misnomer, what we really want to be aware of is what causes the energy drain in the first place.

What is your balance of eustress v. distress?

Here’s to Growth,

Tim