As I'm writing this column, I'm sitting in an Alaska Airlines 737 somewhere between Sitka and Seattle. Before taking off I rooted around in my Cabela’s Guidewear Gore-Tex jacket for a white chocolate truffle and discovered a juicy, dead herring was rooming with my delicious treat. The final harmless – but rank – prank was the work of the lodge’s chef and my good friend Bajr. Touché.
The flight attendant said it was a first, but not the first time she was handed a wet, smelly barf bag. I knew I’d use one of those someday! It may have been a blessing, though.
Ten minutes prior, I had a lady and her infant sit down next to me on a near-empty flight. Though I love to have a stranger's baby drool and crawl over my lap, reaching for my in-flight magazine and noisily sucking down a bottle of formula, all the while slurping and slobbering all over my already-soiled jacket, I was more than happy to stink them a couple rows forward.
There are no bass in Alaska, but Sonar's summer job offers up plenty of fishing adventure.
Despite the fact that this was shaping up to be a contender for my personal-worst flight, I still couldn't stop smiling. It took me half the day, wishing my vocabulary was more expansive, to work up the nerve to try to convey my thoughts and feelings on paper.
The truth is that I’m having a hard time re-booting my brain from my annual summer log-off. Each year for the last 7 summers I've stored all my cares in my travel trailer and headed to the Baranof Wilderness Lodge to work as a fishing guide. The only cares I have there are if I have enough wood for a fire that night, where I plan on fishing the next day, and not getting eaten by a bear or pulverized by a breaching humpback whale.
It's hard to explain how it feels to go from life in busy Orlando to life in lonely Warm Springs Bay, and then back again.
On one hand, I'm absolutely ready to get back to making progress in the tournament world, finishing my last year of school and capitalizing on all the opportunities that my recent win at the BoatUS Collegiate Bass Championship in Texas can afford me.
On the other hand, it's hard to leave the people at the lodge who I've grown to love like family. I just can’t help but think about all the amazing adventures we experience together with our guests, and the great times we spend with each other in the most remote parts of southeast Alaska.
Unfortunately, time stands still for me while I'm working there in the wilderness, but all while the clock is ticking for me back at home. There is so much to be done to prepare for my future.
So, until next summer, it’s back to the future for me!
Where to Start?
To be honest, I don’t even know where to begin. I think I might just go down to Lake Toho, or maybe even Okeechobee.
What bait do I use? What technique do I want to learn next? How can I capitalize on the opportunities that come from my win at Lewisville? What can I do for my sponsors right now? How should I approach preparation for the tournaments coming up? Boxers or briefs?
Arghhhhhhhh! I haven’t had the time to think about any of this over the last month while I've been away from civilization!
Faced with all the responsibilities and choices ahead of me, I even contemplated how I would feel about fleeing into the forest on Baranof Island to live amongst the mountain goats and hunt squirrels for the rest of my days. At least then I wouldn’t have to worry about how much grocery money I would need to sacrifice to pay for a trip to Okeechobee.
In the end, I knew I couldn’t live without fast food and my Triton.
But seriously, I'm finding it hard, as I always do on the trip home, to get things moving forward again. I watch as my fellow competitors are staying in tune with what the fish and the industry are doing, and I am just jumping right back into it somewhat blind.
When you want to be the best you can be, and you are driven by such a strong desire to succeed in such a competitive sport and industry, it gets a little depressing when you think about what you could have accomplished if you were not disconnected for those 5 weeks. However, I can’t think of a better reason to briefly disconnect yourself from your ambitions than to work as a fishing guide in one of the most secluded areas in North America.
Some of my friends tell me that I have the most interesting and exciting life of anyone they have ever known. I’m glad they say that, because sometimes I take the things I experience for granted and don’t see it that way. I guess ambition can sometimes get in the way of savoring valuable experiences.
The Short Term
While I'm writing, I'm slowly drawing up a mental picture of what I plan to do in the next couple of weeks. I will:
> Work on capitalizing on all the opportunities that I might recieve from the TV coverage of the Boat US Collegiate Bass Championship.
> Get down to Okeechobee for a couple of weeks and fish with some friends.
> Get back to serving "endless shrimp" at Red Lobster.
> Reconnect with my sponsors.
And I'll remember all the great times I had this summer at the Baranof Wilderness Lodge.
Note: Watch for Sonar on Versus Sept. 3 at 1 p.m. (ET) and Sept. 11 at 2 p.m. (ET) during coverage of the BoatUS Championship. For the complete TV schedule, click here.
Miles "Sonar" Burghoff is a student at the University of Central Florida and an aspiring professional angler who writes a regular column for BassFan. To visit his website, click here.
