On Days When You Can't Fish...

You always can find a local Starbucks or two with their doors wide open for business. That's where yesterday afternoon found my buddy, Charlie, and me... and it wasn't the first time, either. For a long while now, we've been getting together in this setting from time to time throughout the year.

Our fishin' successes and failures continue to be a mainstay of the conversations, but nothing is off the table. Yesterday, for example, we couldn't avoid taking note of the fact that, as we sat in our chairs looking out the window, bay-effect snowflakes kept falling off and on. That factor, coupled with the steadily falling temperatures, made us both glad we had spent the previous day on the water.

Charlie's one wish yesterday, as he explained, was that northerly winds would keep sucking the water out of West Neck. He thoroughly enjoys having that "playground" all to himself, as he usually does when the water level is at its lowest. While others only can stand by and watch from shore, Charlie sits out there putting one fish after another in the kayak. That's a fact--as anyone who reads his blog regularly will attest.

After a couple hours of our normal banter yesterday, we split and went our separate ways, leaving open the date for our next "coffee break." It wasn't until I was in my van and headed home that my thoughts flashed back to another article I published on this blog here recently. It was the one in which I talked about catching a double limit... on my Radica: Bass Fishin' game, that is. I couldn't help wondering what it would be like to maybe add a new twist to these Starbucks encounters--a tournament using that game.

Incidentally, since running that earlier article about Radica:, I've heard from a couple friends who have told me they pulled out their models of the game and are trying to improve their armchair expertise.

Granted, having a couple hours to meet up at Starbucks on a weekday isn't for everyone, but for retired folks like Charlie and me, it's the perfect way to spend an afternoon when you can't fish.