Rattletrap Ramblings

Sorry to the avid readers out there for being M.I.A lately. I’ve been concentrating on saving enough money to join my friend Jeff Holland on the BASS Southern Opens next year. He called me the other day after he read my post “6 Steps to Becoming a Bass Pro” and was fired up and ready to fish the Opens next year.

I haven’t hit my monetary goal yet, but please refer your friends and family who has real estate needs and I promise they’ll receive the best possible service.

Lately, the US Open of tennis has been on TV and it’s been bringing back all kinds of childhood memories. For those of you that don’t know, most of my youth besides fishing was spent on the tennis court. Memories of the old man picking me up from school, parking the station wagon in the shade to take a nap during my 3 hours of tennis lessons every single day during the week before going back to work, waking up with an hour left in the lesson to yell at me, us taking trips to tournaments,  and him having advice which I regarded at the time as totally useless have been occupying my mind lately.

My dad basically yelled advice and some obscenities to me every single day. The guy was trying to be helpful, but he yelled so much at me that it was a running joke at my tennis academy. Basically everyone became so accustomed to the old man’s yelling that everyone screamed at me imitating my old man with his thick Asian accent. I gotta admit it was a bit embarrassing at the time but now I don’t give a rat’s ass.

It brings me to the question of why I’m so driven to become a bass pro.

I love bass fishing, but competitive bass fishing is a whole different animal that I can’t seem to shake loose.

It gives me the opportunity for a lifestyle that I’ve grown up around. Preparing for tournaments and traveling all over the place to compete in them.

During my bid for Weekend Series National Championship in 2009, I’d wake up every morning to take advantage of my free breakfast at the hotel I stayed at and chat briefly with an old man named Edwin who traveled everywhere with his son to fishing tournaments. It reminded me of traveling with my old man during the tennis tournament days and I started every single day of that tournament with that old familiar feel of my youth…. me and the old man going all over the place and him cheering me on/yelling at me (they’re one in the same with him).

I told him I’ve been doing this my whole life with my old man as well, not fishing tournaments but going from town to town to compete in tournaments anyway. Neither one of us had to comment much more about it. We both knew why we were there and what we were involved in.

Probably the one advice from old man I utilized in that tournament was visualizing a course of action and positive outcome with every possible scenario on every single point or in this case cast. It really did help me make the most of the situation I was in.

I remember calling him to let him know I had a chance at making the Bassmaster Classic prior to the last day of the 2009 Bassmaster Weekend Series National Championship along with some possible coverage on ESPN2 and he had all kinds of advice for me yet he knows absolutely nothing about bass fishing.

What the hell?

Some people say I want to be a bass pro for the recognition, but nothing could be further from the truth. I just like reliving the days of my youth and have a chance at making the old man proud. I can’t say we’re the closest of friends but feel the need to prove myself all the time for some reason.

The competition aspect definitely doesn’t suck neither.

I also love to fish and would love to be able to do it every day.

I don’t want to sound corny but it’s the God’s honest truth. It’s pretty much a driver in life.