Card Sharks

I’ve been in the same house for nearly 24 years and in the fishing industry nearly that long, but at long last my wife and I are preparing to move. It won’t be a downsizing per se, but since we’re moving over 600 miles away we need to get rid of a lot of stuff.

For me that started this week by going through my office desk and cabinet and found no fewer than 500 fishing industry business cards. The discovery halted my progress because it felt more like an archaeological dig than an effort in lightening our load – indeed, I followed one industry stalwart through four different jobs over 20-plus years.

Some of the people are dead. Others are out of the industry. A handful have been through at least three or more boat brands At least one is in jail. Quite a few have become long-term friends.

I lost a ton of time reminiscing about where I met each person and when and where they might have given me the card. A few I remembered not at all. But overall it was fun, a road map through the places I’ve been on this journey.

And I wondered: Do younger pro anglers still even get business cards?

I couldn’t find any from a person currently under 30.

I could, however, find one oversized card with slots meant to slide into a Rolodex. How many of you remember what that is? At 56, even I am not old enough to have had one.

In the end, I threw them all away (although I did photograph a few for perpetual amusement).

It felt like I was getting rid of valuable artifacts, but I couldn’t imagine they would mean more to anyone else than they meant to me – and I hadn’t looked at them in years. Will they someday have value? I doubt it. Could they be used for any sort of display? Again, I racked my brain and couldn’t figure out what that might look like.

I don’t have a hard and fast rule for which items I’ll keep going forward. The Takahiro Omori guide patch? Absolutely. It’s a cool relic that doesn’t take up much space. The t-shirt they gave us at the 1997 FLW Championship? I doubt it. Even though I’ll likely never again fish a tournament of that magnitude, it’s just a plain Jane white tee. There will be harder choices: baits that may never get thrown again and pictures that are just so-so. But for one afternoon, I had fun revisiting the relics of an age gone by.