I am a regular blog reader. My blogfeeder is a source of quotes, book recommendations, encouragement, theological challenges, articles and so much more. Recently I have been considering what makes my blog different than the blogs I enjoy so much. Specifically I have been considering…”If I wasn’t the one writing on this blog would I benefit at all from reading it?” Honestly, I probably wouldn’t have my own blog on my blog feeder. (Please don’t use that as encouragement to delete my blog from your feed!) That led me to consider what it is I appreciate about the blogs I do consistently read. Here are some of the things:
- They are thoughtful. I try to ensure my posts are thoughtful, but in the process I think I lose some of the next things.
- They don’t try too hard. In attempts to be beneficial, I think it is possible to put too much pressure on myself to write my best post yet everytime. I can’t do that. Sometimes my thoughts are radically profound…they may still help someone. Sometimes my thoughts are simply what has impacted me recently…that might help someone else too. Darryl Dash regularly posts quotes from what he is reading. They are usually short posts with very little editorial comment from Darryl. I find myself looking forward to these posts because I know that what he posts from others will be significant. I also know that when he shares his own thoughts they are worth reading because he isn’t just trying to say something of his own every day. I need to stop trying so hard.
- They are personal. Whether I am reading about church polity, financial well being, manhood or theology, the blogs I am reading consistently reveal a part of the person writing. This is part of what makes the blog readable and helpful. There is risk involved because they open themselves up to critique and even judgement by the blogosphere, their employers, their friends, their communities and their family. The real context of their writing makes it more accessible, however. I need to be willing to take that risk if what I write is going to have real significance.
With those things in mind…let me share a bit of my life with you.
I just got my first fishing licence. My five year old son wants to learn fishing and I have no idea what I’m doing. I purchased each of us a rod/reel combo and we tried fishing for the first time last weekend. (Licence free fishing weekend in Ontario.) I now have my licence and we are going to start taking time together to walk down to the Pigeon River to fish. I don’t know what we’re fishing for, but I think there’s bass in there. It doesn’t matter too much because I won’t know what we’ve caught when (if) we’ve caught it! I’m basically totally clueless. If you have any tips or hints please let me know in the comment section!
If you really want to help me learn how to fish, however, you can promote my cause on the World Fishing Network website. I’m entered into their “Adopt an Angler” contest and need a lot more votes! Read my story and cast a vote here: http://www.wfn.tv/adopt/view.php?entry=1127. You can vote once every 24 hours for each e-mail address. Feel free to promote my cause to your friends, neighbours and even your enemies!
Wow. That’s such a relief to get such a personal part of my life out there for the world to see!
Baby steps, right?!? I have stuff going on that I hope to start to share over the next little bit. In the meantime I’m working (not as hard as I should be) at turning it over to God first. In the meantime you can get over to WFN and cast your vote for me!
Hey Jon,
First I assume your going to be fishing from shore not from a boat or wading in the river. Try to find a spot where the water is a good depth (2-5 feet) at the bank and where the water isn’t flowing too fast, then look for any fallen trees or or large rocks or anything fish might think they can hide around. Stand down stream and cast upstream if you can.
If your using lures I recommend starting with a simple jig head (1/4oz) and plastic grub of some sort in the 3″-4″ range just cast it out toward (or past if you can) the spots you think fish might be in and reel it in at a moderate pace. I find this to be more exciting that the sit and wait approach of bait fishing but you do limit the types of fish you will catch to predatory ones (bass, pike, walleye and panfish)
If your using worms or other “real” bait put your bait onto a hook move up stream cast out into the water and let your line drift out until you think it is near the spot where the fish are then make the line tight and wait. You can catch types of fish such as carp, suckers, and catfish that won’t go for lures very often and you can still catch bass and panfish easily.
Anyways just some thoughts off the top of my head if you want some more specific advice tell me what the river is like at places you can get to it. Good Luck and I enjoy reading your Blog every so often.
I’m not offering ANY advice, ’cause I’m not a fisher! However, we’re voting for you!!