Mentoring the Missus
Posted by The Inside Line on Sep 7th 2020
I was fortunate in my early years of competitive fishing to have mentors like my longtime friends Bill Roberts and Lee Byrd, who had been there, seen that, and weren’t afraid to dispense advice in the bluntest possible terms. I may never be a great angler, but because of those two and others like them there are certain mistakes I’ll never make, and certain easy shortcuts that’ve helped me along the way. On the other hand, I still see many experienced anglers, many of them at the Opens or BFL level, who continue to make errors with respect to gear, ethics and strategy because they weren’t so lucky to receive that early mentoring.
Because I agree that “to whom much is given, much is required,” I’ve tried to repay that mentoring debt over the past 20 years – with both fishing and writing. I’ve had some hit-and-miss successes, and believe that I’ve occasionally made a difference, but I’ve never had someone fully buy into the model on the receiving end. I’ve tried, but the fit just hasn’t been there for one reason or another.
Fortunately, much of that slack has been taken up by my wife Hanna, who went from never having fished when she met me, to being a world-traveling angler 15 years later. She’s competitive and a receptive learner, so while teaching her to fish had its frustrating moments, it wasn’t a super-heavy lift. She got the big picture early and filled in the details over time.
I never suspected that she’d take up blogging, too. She’s quick to admit that writing is not her strong suit, but as we started to lead groups to far-flung locations, I needed her softer touch to help convince our hesitant friends to join us, and to take care of some of the details. Moreover, writing aptitude aside, I believe everyone has a story to tell, so when we started Half Past First Cast this year it was with the explicit understanding that we’d be equal partners – and she’d be obligated to blog.
It has been rough going in some respects as we struggle to find our voice and our niche, and there may have been a few “animated discussions” (euphemism for arguments) between us, but her blogging has been one of the brightest parts of the effort. She is able to tell stories from her own perspective, and attack topics that I can’t or shouldn’t. Along those latter lines, two of her entries – a profile of Becky Iaconelli and interviews with female tournament anglers about the best bras for fishing – have been our most-read posts.
All of this just reiterates how satisfying it is to mentor, and to see the mentee exceed your own achievements. Even if Hanna will never love writing as much as I do – indeed, I wake up ready to hit the keyboard every day – that’s not a limit on our success.
