Turn the page

We made it all of the way to the tip of Baja California to Cabo San Lucas yesterday without any problem and last night we went down to the marina to see how the fishing boats had done that day. Whenever marlin are caught the boats fly a flag for each trophy that was caught that day. To our chagrin there was not one flag flying for striped marlin, which is our target and primary reason for coming to Cabo in the first place.

A few blue marlin and plenty of Mahi Mahi had been caught but no stripies. I have caught plenty of blue, white, and black marlin and tens of thousands of Mahi, but never a striped marlin. I wanted the striped marlin in my quest to catch one of everything as one of my personal goals. I came to Cabo with a friend who has been coming here for 25 years. He advised me to come at this particular time of year and we would catch four or five stripeys each per day; it would be a “piece of cake”.

We talked to a guy on the dock and he said that the water was too cold for the striped marlin and they had not arrived from warmer waters yet. Bummer. We will fish three days and I’m sure catch lots of fish and have a great time relaxing at the resort, but I am not optimistic about collecting a stripey on this trip.

This reminds me of my son coming to my plantation to hunt whitetails the other day. We of course have tons of deer on my plantation and I wanted to send him to an optimum place. I gave him detailed instructions on how to get to a deer stand, (my personal honey hole), where he would have a great chance of collecting a monster buck. He got up prior to daylight and tried to follow my map to the honey hole, but could not find it in the dark. It was nearing daylight so he reluctantly went to the second place that I had told him about, “Plan B”.

It was a large comfortable, totally enclosed stand complete with roof and tinted shooting windows where the hunter can see out but the deer cannot see in. The hunter sits in an office style leather chair overlooking a large food plot planted with choice food that deer love. He would watch below as various deer entered the food plot and pick out the one he wanted. It was a sure thing, a “pice of cake”.

My son went inside and prepared to collect his deer. He was wearing leaf camo and it began tickling his neck. He tried to adjust it only to discover that it was not his clothing that was tickling his neck, it was a yellow jacket and when he rubbed his neck, it stung the heck out of him.

He screamed YEOWWWWWWWW! at the top of his lungs. He then ran outside and pulled off his jacket and began beating it on the stand and fiercely rubbing the back of his neck. He rightly figured that he had probably scared every deer within three miles away, (that place will never be the same), so he decided to go back to the first place I told him about that he had not been able to find in the dark. Now that it was daylight he knew he could find it.

As he cautiously approached the stand he looked with his binoculars, and there standing underneath his stand, was a magnificent trophy buck. When he tried to move closer to get a shot at him, the buck took off haughtily crashing into the adjacent forest.

My son dejectedly went back to the lodge and got a cup of coffee and conceded defeat for the morning; chalk it up, deer one, son none.

Hmmm I have not conceded to failure on the stripey yet, but things are not looking up for me to collect one on this trip. I am constantly reminded by this, and similar events, that I am not the one in control.

We can’t always get what we want can we? The best we can manage is to make plans and try to execute. If it is to be, then thank God almighty for His blessing. If we do not achieve our goal, then grab a cup of coffee, sit back with a smile and know that there will come another day, just turn the page and relax.

Think of your defeats in life not as the end of the book, rather just the beginning of a brand new chapter.


Psalm 46:1
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. Selah. The LORD of hosts is with us