When you love something, it becomes a part of your life. That’s how I feel towards fishing, it’s not just something I do for fun whenever I have time, it has become a part of who I am and a big part of my life. Lately, I have been adjusting to working full time again and trying to learn how to balance life’s priorities, while being a Mom on top of it all. Although I haven’t been out fishing for a while, it is still an important part of my life. When I’m not fishing, I am thinking about fishing or talking about fishing. My love for fishing has introduced me to a whole new world and a big part of this is the people I have met along my fishing journey. You have probably heard me use this term a lot, “My fishing journey”, and that’s because it is an ongoing journey that will never end and one of the things I am forever grateful for, is my fishing friends that I’ve met along the way. Some of these friends, I have actually never even met in real life, but the power of social media has allowed me to make these connections that I am so grateful for and has helped mold me into the angler I am today.
A lot of fellow Angler’s I have met, have been fishing their whole life and have always been passionate about it. That is not the case with me. I have always liked fishing, but I was never passionate about it like I am now. My Step-Father is the person in my life that taught me to love the outdoors. Growing up, he had an acreage that we spent a lot of time at when I was growing up, I felt like my Mom and him forced my brothers and I to do outdoorsy things, that we never really appreciated until we were older. Now that I have a kiddo of my own, I look back, and realize how amazing and special it really was. My step father even made his own trout pond at one point. I legitimately DREAM about having that now and looking back, I see how significant it was in shaping the person that I am today.
When I joined the Women’s Fishing Network, I thought it would be just for fun, but it has created an entire new family and support system for myself and there are truly no words to describe how lucky I feel to be a part of it.
The purpose of this blog post, is to express that I am JUST as passionate as always, but sometimes life gets in the way of the things we love to do, but, I am so grateful to have an editor/founder that is so understanding and more importantly inspirational. I have been positively pushed out of my comfort zone, but I also have been truly inspired by the other amazing women that are a part of this amazing network. I actually looked up the definition of “Network”, and it stated “a group or system of interconnected people or things”, and I thought it was quite fitting since none of us that are a part of the Women’s Fishing Network have ever met in person and we are stretched across the world. It’s pretty amazing when you think about it, just a bunch of women connecting over our love for fishing, which has always been a more male dominated sport.
When I see pictures or videos of other friends fishing (or catching) when I am not, I have never felt jealous or envious. It actually inspires me and brings joy into my life. It truly makes me happy and motivates me and reminds me of my love of fishing.
On that note, I AM HAVING MAJOR FISHING WITHDRAWALS. It is a real thing. I have been out a few times over the last few weeks but the weather and circumstances have made it unsuccessful. Ice fishing season has been starting to kick into full notch here in Alberta and I have been sitting back and observing what people have been doing. It has made me anxious to get out, but also excited to get out. This upcoming weekend, I am heading out for my FIRST ice fishing trip of this season and I am beaming with excitement and joy.
I am eternally grateful for the people that have been willing to follow along with my segments and blogs, even though I have not been fishing as much as I was before. I have absolutely not lost any of my passion, I actually have been gaining a lot of knowledge behind the scenes and I am looking forward to having people see how far I have come since my last season. It’s pretty remarkable and I would never be where I am without the love and support of my amazing fishing family that is the Women’s Fishing Network.
Stay tuned for an AMAZING ice fishing season, my dear friends, and thank you for still following along and being ever so supportive through my slower fishing times. I look forward to bringing some awesome and inspiring content.
I do not have any recent cool fishing photos to share, but I wanted to share this photo below of myself from a fishing trip this summer, when I was feeling pure bliss. I share this photo because I truly believe you can see the passion I have for fishing, written all over my face.
Chelsey
