The Real Meanings of the New Year

The New Year means a fresh start; for some it brings much needed change, or a continuation of success and happiness. Whatever your resolutions are for the new year, remember that yesterday cannot be changed and tomorrow is a whole new world of opportunity, you just need to enable your heart and soul to see and grab the opportunities that come your way. There is no greatness without a passion to be great, whether it’s the aspiration to spend more time on the bank or to break that PB that eluded you last year. For you to achieve greatness, you have to love what you are doing, it will ignite the spark that drives your goals. Be bold in your dreams this year - you have read so many informative pieces the past year that seemed like something you might not be able to do or try, and this is where you need to change in this coming year. Become that person that thinks outside the box, no matter how silly your idea sounds to yourself. Can you imagine what the people thought when they saw Mr. Kevin Nash wading into his swim, kicking up the silt in his margin and placing a bait on the spot, when none of the swims were producing any fish? They must have thought that he had lost his mind, but no! – just minutes later he banked a fish, so the proof is in the pudding! Whenever you try something new, and it does not deliver the desired results, don’t look at it as a failure, but rather as a learning curve. Write down your rig and bait combinations, depths fished and weather patterns on the day, basically as much information as you can about your session. This will ensure that you don’t repeat past mistakes, but rather make the necessary adjustments on your next session out. Let’s take one great example for the past year, a bait that has proven to be the “go-to” bait at Rietvlei namely Tigernuts pressure cooked with Coke and not water, mixed with cooked hempseed with a little extra added sunflower oil. These were simple adjustments that sometimes makes a world of difference during a session. So, no matter how silly you sound to yourself, try the idea! You are doing this for yourself and not for anyone else, this is for your PB and the feeling of achievement that comes with it is priceless! How will you know your limits without the occasional failure? Mistakes and failures are inevitable, but how you get up and dust yourself off, is what defines your character. One of the biggest secrets in our sport is that you should never be living someone else’s life. It is too easy to follow a person in our sport and become completely infatuated by his or her methods and advice that you completely lose the ability to listen to you own inner voice. You need to be able to have the courage to follow your heart and intuition - they somehow already know what your desires are! The year ahead will not wait for you, take it and make this year one that will bring peace and happiness to your heart, spend the time on the bank with your family, sit together around the fire and share a moment of silence, so that your souls can share their thoughts among each other. Go and try out that new flavour or bait that you have been ignoring the whole year, it might just pleasantly surprise you. And before I forget, make sure that your kit gets a polish for the long sessions ahead!