Get back to work!

So I am. Back to work. Made my first sales trip to the new territory last week. Maine, Vermont, New Hampshuh, Massachusets, Rhode Island. When I took the job I was 2 months through reading Lou Tabory's book Inshore Fly Fishing. (I cannot recommend it because I have zero point of reference, although I have a sense that he may comprehend a thing or two more than most on the subject). So when the "man" said "Your territory would be....", I immediately zoned into stripers. When I came to, he was shaking my hand and mumbling something about making a great addition to the team.
So as I was saying I was out in "the territory" last week and the first door I walk through I see two guys looking at the local paper (I was in Northeastern NH). It took me a second to focus on the picture above the article they were talking about. It was a picture of a guy holding up a Big Ass Striper. So that was an easy ice breaker. We talked fishing. They turned out to be nice guys . (I have their number and I fully intend to get them drunk and make them slur all of their secrets at some future date.) Three sales calls later I walk in and there are 2 shadowboxes on the wall containing classic Carrie Stevens-esque flies.



So now I'm thinking. Is this a sign? An Omen? As I was processing this, my (small, narrow) mind does what it often does during complicated and unsolvable processes and jumped to a side item thought, a footnote on the original idea. The footnote became the new idea and I completely forgot about the "Omen Factor" until 5 minutes ago.

The original subject of this post was going to be "good fishing found where you look for it".
These two guys at the counter were trying to make it through another day at work and, unable to do it, turned to discussing just what they were going to do once they were punched out of that underpaid and overworked segment of their day...they were going fishing. And they were fired up. I've seen this same thing happen in St. Louis MO, McAllen TX, and Jupiter FL to name but a few.

The point is this: Home waters are great. Comfortable, familiar and close...but there is an absolute steamer trunk full of exceptional fishing water out there. Don't get too smug and cocksure about being the king of your own turf and master of your watershed. And I say this for two reasons:
1. You don't get to heaven by catching the most sea-run gar on whatever creek runs through your back yard.
and
2. Somewhere out east or down south or up north or out west or in St Louis there are two guys fishing (stripers for example) on an ocean you vaguely remember from 6th grade geography and they are having the time of their lives...and if you were there, you would be too.