Sterling Griggs

Free time. Anybody know what that is anymore? I know I am not alone in wishing I had more time each day to “get things done” and enjoy more down time for myself. Remember when you were a kid and complained to your folks about being bored all the time? Don’t you crave a little more boredom in your life right now? Someone once said that you don’t make time to do the things you want to do, rather you gotta make the best use of the time that you’ve been given. Good advice, if you have the time to take it. But all of us at some point will find ourselves with extra time on our hands that we have the privilege to fill with, well, whatever we want. It might be while you are on vacation or the kids are away at camp or you are recovering from a medical procedure at home. Whatever the circumstance, this gift of extra free time comes with challenges of its own, namely, “What in the world are you gonna do with yourself?” The challenge the I have with this kind of time is that I want it to be meanin...

They didn’t catch a thing. In fact, I’m not even so sure they got so much as a nibble on those hooks baited with artificial top water frogs, probably not the best choice for luring bass in this pond. Although there are plenty of manmade retention ponds all around, natural freshwater spots aren’t all that common this close to the coast. Yet these less than ideal circumstances did not - could not - deter my son and his friend, along with my tag along daughter, from attempting to catch “the big one.” Before we moved to the coast, we had unlimited access to a pond on the edge of our property that was swarming with fish, which included a giant elusive bass that we named Maximus. My brother, visiting from New York, purchased cheap rod and reel combos, effectively introducing fishing to my kids. The typical haul was a glob of algae covered grass or a tree limb on a wayward cast, yet every once in a blue moon one of them would hook a small brim or bass. Maximus, however, would remain ...