RE: Secrets to Getting Away

[Steve Schwartz]

Title: Re: Secrets to Getting Away

I am also self-employed, and fishing on weekdays is perhaps one of the best benefits. It has its ups and downs, but if you want the flexibility to fish on weekdays instead of weekends (when you end up working to make up for it) it can be very rewarding.   -Steve   -----Original Message----- From: Leland Miyawaki [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2001 2:14 PM To: Waflyfishers Subject: Re: Secrets to Getting Away   I have a few things going for me that get me out fairly often:   1.  An English wife that loves gardening, including mowing the lawn, and more importantly, won't let me screw up the house because of my total ineptness and lack of any mechanical skills.   2.  A son who has graduated from college and lives back east.   3.  My own business in which I am the boss and sole employee with projects that allow me to work at home, studio, or on the water (which I call concept time).   4.  Our long Seattle summer days that let you get on the water at 5am and back into town for 9am meetings or on the water in the evenings until 10pm.   5.  Lastly, an urge to fish that causes me take off at noon, eat lunch while driving, wader up, fish for an hour or so, and get back to do what needs to be done (my gear is always in the car). I have never been into "event fishing" where I needed to partition off a whole day away from my family every single time I went fishing. Even when my boy was a child, I could hit a beach in the morning and be back before he or my wife was awake.   6.  My voicemail tells my clients that I am either fishing, working, or stuck in traffic (in that order). They know what to expect before they hire me.   A long time ago, one of my wife's friends asked her how it sat with her that I fished so often. She replied, "It's not drugs or other women." The payoff is that on wednesday, she will ask me what my weekend plans are.   It's not for everybody, but it works for me,   Leland.         Willy Gevers recently put the question out there, "how do you arrange your life to consistently flyfish on weekdays?"  I think it would be helpful to all of us to trade tips, tricks and secrets in this area.  I'm nowhere near retirement so that one just doesn't work for me...   My wife and I have two boys, 4 (almost 5) and 10.  We have an arrangement such that once a month I can take a weekend away with no kids to do some fishing.  In turn I give her a weekend off to do whatever she wants...  if she wants to go somewhere I keep the boys at home, and if she wants to be at home I take the boys somewhere (like fishing ;-)  A little more fishing time beyond this once-a-month arrangement can at times be managed if I take one or both of the boys with me.  And, I can at times manage to get away for a day for things like my birthday (it's in late Fall so it's easy to get home in time for our little family get-together), father's day, etc.  But I must say that I have at times pushed for more than once-a-month too hard with less than pleasing results ;-)   During late Spring and Summer months I will arrange with my project manager to come into work early and leave early so I can make it to relatively close locations after work with a few hours of light left.  At Pass Lake this usually turns into fishing an hour or two past dark, dredging leeches for browns.  While this just flat doesn't work with how short the days are in Winter, it does get me to places like Pass Lake, the Yakima, S. Fork Snoqualmie, etc., during the longer days of the year.   That's pretty much it for my tips, tricks and secrets... anyone else have some to share?   -tight lines- Jim Speaker