You on vay-cay Bob?
Miss your solid reports on here.
Sir, thanks for the inquiry as to my whereabouts. In late Dec. I had a mishap while launching my boat with a guided party aboard which resulted in damage to my L. rotator cuff. I had surgery to repair that on 13 Jan. and am now recovering (well).
Most of you know I'm a Christ-follower and as such I look for the Lord's design in things which come my way, both those I perceive as "good" and as "bad". As I look at this "bad" event, I realize that it happened in what, for 17 years in the guide business, has always been the slowest part of my season (mid-Jan. to late-Feb.) -- that's good!
I was given an opportunity to write an article for In-Fisherman magazine about white bass fishing which is to appear in print this summer. This injury provided me with the downtime to do as good a job at writing that article as I could -- that's good!
I've been wanting for months now to do some short, instructional videos on how to best use the Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs I make. Well, with my wife's assistance, we collected the needed footage before surgery, and the post-op recovery time has given us the uninterrupted time we need to get the editing done so I can post these to YouTube this week. That's good.
At age 53, I don't feel quite that old yet, and, Lord willing, I'll be around a while longer. I know that this shoulder was already damaged -- the December event was just the straw that broke the camel's back. So, now that shoulder will recover and will serve me better for the next x-number of years than the unrepaired version would have. That's good.
I think, based on how things are going, that I'll be able to offer on-the-water sonar training sessions again by early Feb., and hope be be back launching my own boat with clients aboard for guided fishing by mid- to late-Feb. That's good.
In the meantime, I can assure you your turn-around time on MAL Lure or Bladed Hazy Eye Slab orders will never be faster than they will be right now - LOL!
There's been a pleasantly surprising number of folks, whose only connection with me is through fishing, who have reached out to wish me well after hearing of my injury through the grapevine, many of which have come to know me though the TFF. I've have made it a point to respond to each person who took time out of their lives to do that, and thank them here for doing so, as well.
So, Mr. T Bird, that's what's going on. Thanks again for asking!
--Bob