A sensitive time for a steelhead fisherman

[Mark Kranhold]

Dustin, are you related to George?

[BillB]

Geez Mark you bring back a copious amount of pleasurable memories. I never ate at the Jolly Giant Commons but I paid considerable dinero to them. When I brought one of my daughters home from there she looked like the warning on the iodine bottle she was so skinny. Wouldn't eat in the commons and lived on cereal. Humboldt Krud turned into pneumonia for one of the kids. We sent the best in rain gear but the ladies still made it to class wet. Only one of the girls suffered a bicycle accident when the rain gear obstructed her view and she ran into the side of a car removing it's mirror.

You left out Rico's Tacos and the taco truck that resided near the Humboldt Crab baseball venue. Best chicken taco ever. Also Luzmilla's made a decent Chile Colorado. I can still feel, smell, the garlic from the Los Bagels Guacamole.

As for fishing, the girls didn't but I did! Loved to fish the north jetty, Mad River Beach, Mad River and the Mad at Blue Lake.

The trip from home was a grueling 9-10 hour marathon that required considerable medication upon arrival! Needless to say I required much medication over the years, but not just from the drive!

[Dustin Revel]

Mexican food from my experience isn't that great around here... I've found hey juan's to be bland, and rico's is allright. the roach coach is definately the best.

Los bagels Guac is probably the best i've ever had... and their jalepeno scrambagel! that is the breakfast of champions, I just wish they opened a couple hours earlier. I live just a couple blocks from them.

I can't believe no one has mentioned toni's... my favorite drug front!!! I mean what kind of business that large only takes cash and checks? I ordered checks just for toni's and they refuse them because they aren't from humboldt, but damn they make a good burger or breakfast... 24 HOURS A DAY!!!

Or Don's???? some of the most interesting things I have ever seen have happened while that small cambodian man was jumping up and down on the counter top yelling at the top of his lungs "GET OUT!!!!"

and no i'm not suffering because of hippies aside from the fact that you can barely buy meat on campass.. thats lame.

As for medication I certainly can't be as productive as I need to be if I'm consistently medicated... moderation is very important.

I definately have a lot of fun here, but I would have fun anywhere I came HERE to fish!!

[BillB]

Medication for me, boys and girls, tends to be many of the fine ales that must be tasted. Red Nectar is an exception noted.

[Ned Morris]

Or it's a complete waste of cash. I went to UO rather than UC Davis as my only basis was to choose fishing over education which I sometimes regret to this day wondering "what if". Honed my craft Fly Fishing for Steelhead and Trout on the McKenzie and Willamette Rivers for 4 years + every other coastal stream from Seaside to Bandon. Fished 4 days a week after class for 4-1/2 years straight and even ditched some to boot even though my Dad was paying some hefty out of state tuition. All the while still made every party at my Fraternity and every barn dance invited to by the Sorority gal of the week who had the guts to take me for a few hours before I bored them to death talking about where I had just fished last. My only girlfriend the whole time was from Mercer Island WA and she loved a fresh smoked Coho I usually nabbed from NF Nehalem or Siltcoos which I was more than happy to provide catching myself in return for some... well other things. Too bad I ditched her as she was loaded too. Then when I finally finished the "BS" degree and got that first piece of sheepskin, uh oh....I need to make some money or I start going in the "red" like every other dummy. I think hmmm..... work in corp. america for just a couple of years, save some cash, go back to Grad school and get my M.S. in Fisheries so I can really say F-you to all the working hacks I laughed at growing up. Get in to UW and OSU however the prospect of going 60K in the hole when finally done only to start a career making a meager 25K a year (actually you could live off that at the time up there) living in a Gov't trailer for the next 10 years was not a good prospect for me (not to mention I failed Organic Chem). Well fast forward 13 years and a couple of MS Degrees later and yes I regret it. I live a way too fast life in the city and fish about a 1/100 of what I used to. I have a wife, 2 kids, live in a fabulous neighborhood of San Francisco and make enough money a year to be considered that evil top 1% tax bracket. Work my ass off 60 hours a week to pay for it all too. Do I miss my old college life being a fishing fool driving an old 1969 Dart in snow flurries trying to make it to the Alsea having only $7 in my pocket for the next 5 days? Yes. I now drive a German Yuppie mobile like every other white colar clown. Do I miss the lifestyle? Yes and no. Was it worth it? Undetermined because I know what I had once and yes it still eats at me. Today I do get to go on some sweet trips every year I could have only dreamed of back then but they are infrequent as I am saving for my kids education as well so they can come to this same crossroads if they too end up to liking fishing as much as I do. Priorities shift for some people, for others they don't. No one is wrong in their decision, it is theirs to live with and no one else's. Am I happy, you bet. Seeing my 3 year old daughter catch her first fish last summer was worth a season of fishing for me. For the record, I have been Steelhead fishing once this year on the Russian and scored the standard goose egg. I enjoyed it though. I hope you make the most of your years at HSU Dustin. It is a good school and a great place with fantastic fishing opportunities I'm sure you take advantage of. Sorry to break it to you but hippies are at every 4 year school on the west coast. Ignore them if you must and worry about what makes you happy. When you pick your career after you're done, no matter what you choose be prepared to make sacrifices. It goes both ways.

[huntindog]

i so agree with the message above. I went to Montana State University and fished and hunted my ass off, partied like a drunken hillbilly, killed some cool critters, caught a butt-load of trout, got the degree, failed organic chem also...as well as comparative anatomy, that class sucks butt (and yes there are a bunch of hippies in Bozeman too)...had the time of my life. I would love it if i could do it over againa a few times and i wouldnt change a thing. I still fish more than the average married guy, and still manage to fill my freezer with red meat...but the care-free college life is something you only get to do once...i have some friends that still try and live that way but it doesn't seem very fullfilling. Have fun, fish hard.

[Dustin Revel]

this thread to an interesting path... it went from "you should see a psychiatrist" to keep fishin'... both of which are obvious