-Dating Advice for The Young (or maybe even you)

So, you are someone wanting to find a spouse, get married, someone to love, someone to "soulmate" with.

Is it me, or does that word "soulmate" cause you to vomit a little bit?

It's always been gross to me.

I thought it might be fun to pen a thought about this dating thing. Maybe you can pass it on to your kids or grand kids.

Some time back, my daughter came to me and expressed her extreme anxiety and frustration over the available men. The men in her age category are mostly feminine men, weak, frail, and to put it into Rob Speak "Pansies". Guys like we have been seeing on TV all summer. You know, pink hair, wearing their sisters jeans, skinny as a bean pole, girly men.

I told her that the problem is simple. At least in my mind.

"You are spending time in your boat on the WRONG part of Gun Lake"

"What the hell are you talking about?" was her reply.

Well, that's not really what she said. But the look on her face certainly did.

Let me explain.

For those of you not from Michigan, Gun Lake sits in the Yankee Springs Recreation area south of Hastings.

It is a very large lake and it is popular. I spent most of my growing up summers there.

I know this lake like the back of my hand. I lived there in essence every summer.

Gun Lake is a very large and diverse lake, I told her.

We stayed at Pages Resort. This end of the lake was extremely shallow. Mucky and gross. Always had to be very careful to keep the prop up on the boat for fear of breaking a blade off.

Were you to fish that part of the lake, as a fishing fisherman would (I never liked to fish, but my brother Ryan Anthony certainly did), you would find a large population of Cat and Dog fish as well as Large Rubber Back Turtles. Maybe a puny bass here and there.

I'm fully willing to admit my lack of fish knowledge, so if I am wrong here, just go with it. Our end of the lake was just gross, and it stunk (literally), and if you walked out, you were hip deep in the grossest muck you ever would touch. Allow me the creative liberty.

If you wanted Cat Fish, throw out your anchor and fish there.

We always took our little motor boat over to the "Channels". This was a series of river/channel type cut outs that were home to many a turtle. It was a grand day to go over and catch us a load of turtles.

What did we do with the turtles? Nothing, really. We don't eat turtles. We'd catch them, admire them, even consider making them pets, ultimately to let them go again. It must be a young boy thing.

But there aren't many prime fish in the channels.

We were young. We didn't want ladies at the time. We wanted turtles.

Yes, those of you that knew me in school, I can actually hear your brain-thoughts now. "Oh COME ON ROB, you had ladies on the brain ALL THE TIME".

Yeah, I know. Sadly, I know. But I am talking pre high school. More like 10-12 years old...alright, 6-8.

ANNNNYYYY way.

As the lake is rather large and diverse, if Catfish or turtles aren't your thing, you simply need to head out toward the "island" as it was called. (funny, as I think about it, as I got older, I DID end up going to the Island a lot...because that's where the LADIES were...well now...that's a little irony)

The lake, in this area, would get very deep. Very deep indeed. 80-100 plus feet deep in some spots!

In Michigan, the prime fish, (as I have heard) is Walleye. Well, one of the prime fish anyway.

There is a series of very large rocks near the island and from what I remember, Walleye seem to like hiding in the colder waters, around the rocks.

So, if you wanted Walleye, you needed to go there.

And to get them interested, your timing was important too. When the lake is busy, they go down deep and hide. They don't like the noise of the motors and the screaming and splashing all day long.

You need to fish, near sundown, or, even better, very, very early in the morning. I'm talking uncomfortable early.

In other words, it would take WORK and a SERIOUS level of commitment to nab the fish you really wanted, if you wanted the Walleye.

The catfish were easy. EASY to cath. They' aren't picky...about anything. They eat everything...and trash.

Turtles? Not quite as easy, but still, much easier than the deeply embedded, more elusive Walleye.

If you want the Walleye, you must go to where they are. They aren't going to come over to you.

You can pray all you want, from the comfort of your boat or at the end of your dock, on the shallow end of Gun Lake, and them there Walleye are not going to swim over to you and take a bite on your bait. You are left with Catfish, Dogfish, and a few turtles. Well, that and perhaps Gar Pike. (yes, there's a metaphor hidden in there)

So, I told her, if you don't like the fish you are finding, change spots.

Put the effort in, get in the boat, before the sun comes up and get out to the rocky pier at Gun Lake, put your line in and hope.

You stand a much greater chance of catching what you hope if you do these things.

She changed her model, and started fishing elsewhere. To this day, she will recount the time years back she heard the fishing story.

This is life.

You will catch the fish, you will find the man or woman, you will land the job, exactly where you put the effort in. You must go where the fish you want are. It's that simple.

If I were Stone Cold, I would say, "And that's the Bottom Line because Stone Cold said so". The line being fishing line- the bottom being the bottom of the deep end of the lake. Errr, Uh, I digress. My mind is everywhere right now.

Greater reward comes to those of us that are willing to make choices to alter where we are fishing, if we are not getting the fish we hope to land.

We choose a little more difficult path, we choose to do things that require a little more effort, that are a little harder, make us a little more uncomfortable.

We Keep at it (Walleye are smart and stubborn) until we finally....FINALLY make headway.

It takes time, dogged stubbornness, and effort. Effort that many of us aren't willing to put in.

Good luck and happy fishing!

~rob