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“but the mental game is more interesting to me”
That is “the way”. Everything is mental. The effort in inshore fishing reveals that.
Story time: long ago I was a RIP Instructor, and it was my job to screen, train and select Marines who wanted to get into Recon. The main thing we are looking for is mental strength. I know when everyone thinks of this kind of job they think of big, jacked dudes like John Cena who play the role on the silver screen, but that’s not real life.
What’s real life is not quitting.
Just to get into Recon Indoctrination Platoon, Marines would have to pass a rather basic screening, part of which involves a 25 meter underwater crossover. They must complete it on one breath in clothes. Wearing clothes makes it way more difficult due to the drag. Try it sometime in a pool.
One day I was the safety swimmer and as I was following a kid on his crossover I could hear him making those “umph” sounds just before he blacked out. I pulled him out of the pool, the corpsman resuscitated him and, when he woke up, he asked if he made it. We told him “no” but passed him anyway because he didn’t quit. He was going to die before he failed. We like that. It’s not his fault he’s not Michael Phelps, we can teach him to swim better. He went on to eventually graduate Amphibious Reconnaissance School and became a combat diver.
We would also psyche out Marines on ruck runs. The first one was three miles, and we built up to fiven, seven, ten, twelve and eventually fifteen miles. That’s miles and miles of running with a 50lb ruck, deuce gear and a rifle. But on the fifteen-miler we didn’t run 15 miles. We just let them believe that. And as the ruck run began, the fear/anxiety would set in and all of a sudden Marines are dropping out left and right. The ruck run was only about a half mile, but the quitters didn’t know that. They just selected themselves out.
We would also make a point to always end the ruck run at the same spot. Then one day the “rabbit” that the students have to keep up with just blasts through the end-point and the ruck run keeps going. For how long, they have no idea. Marines dropped like flies. It was a great trick. Anyone who didn’t keep up with the rabbit got kicked out and sent back to the fleet.
One of the reasons I love fishing is that this relentless kind of mind-f*ck is administered by the conditions and the fish.
Just let it roll off your back and keep going. The journey will reward you.
“I was getting my ass kicked and walked away with a limit of reds.”
Agreed, you did great. Definitely record those details for your personal report. Your future self will thank you.