Aging sucks.

[rfb700]

As I sit here in my living room with various cold packs and a heating pad on various pieces of my anatomy I'm starting to realise I don't like the aging process.

I got up at 2:00 this morning so I could be on a small river by daybreak at 6:30. If I'm going that far I like to put a full day in to make it worth my while. I used to get there at daybreak and get off the river and back to my car by 4:30 so I could be home by 9.

But today I was in so much pain I packed it in before noon. Something about wading upstream against current and climbing over log jams doesn't seem to agree with me anymore.

I must have looked about 100 shuffling out of the Bush today. And I'm sure anyone watching me try and kick my leg up and over a log got a good laugh. It's mind over matter for some of these trips.

Stupid thing us it's kinda random. Some days I'd swear I was 25 instead of 58. I want my new hips now while I can still enjoy them but apparently I'm too young and not crippled enough.

Someone needs to come up with an all terrain walker that can power me down the middle of a stream. Or perfect limb transplants. I have spare children who owe me for their college education.

I've sent my oldest son who is visiting out to get Daddy's special medicine, a bottle of Johny Walker. Soon the suffering will end.

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[trout trekker]

Until we can't any longer.....

 

[Cigarsnjeeps]

I hear ya. At 55, body wise, I'm holding up pretty well (knock on wood), but my eyesight is going fast due to an eye disease I have. I will find out next week if it's time for cornea transplants. I feel blessed thats even an option, so I'll leave it up to the good Lord to help me through and hopefully the eyes are back close to new so I can keep on fishing.

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[rangerrich99]

Here ya go, one over-the-top powered walker thing:

YouTube

 

[darkshadow]

Turned 40 this year, and aside from the gray hairs that I can definitely overlook, it's the recovery period after a day on the water that is really apparent.

Because I'm only 5'6", my low center of gravity makes me look like a grizzly going upstream, so that part isn't really bad. It's the part afterwards that sucks.

 

[mcnerney]

Rfb700

I feel your pain, I'm 72 and have long ago given up on the type of fishing you love and so vividly described above. My balance isn't what it used to be so I don't wade much over my knees. Yesterday I visited with my cardiologist (reoccurring issues with A-Fib), today I did a PT session at a physical rehab joint for the pain in my right foot. A couple months ago I went up to Jackson to get a cortisone shot in my left knee. But on the bright side, I can get out fishing almost anytime I want and I did manage to get in almost 14 miles on my bike today, two of which were all up hill.....so I don't complain, things could be worse.

 

[ia_trouter]

Thanks RFB! I get a chance to cry in front of guys 20 years my senior.

It went very well until age 36 when I blew out a disc in my lower back hanging 12ft sheets of 5/8" sheetrock on the ceiling of my new house. I saved $6000 going DIY so it was worth it, not. I'm in the military and nowhere near the retirement I desire. I get a low back surgery and the next 19 years go OK enough if I'm careful. I'm able to pass my army physical fitness test. Even able to outrun many of the kids most years. Now I am suddenly 54 and leave service. It goes well for 6 months and now I about have to crawl out of the car if I sit for an hour. It came to light suddenly last spring when I tried to hike with forum member fishiowa at our Driftless meet. I was hobbling bad. Time to get cut again but I am putting it off because I know it has a shelf life. Might wait and get new hips at the same time because they are showing signs of trouble too. The ortho problems don't kill you so I am thankful because it could sure be worse. But man it changes your life when you desire to remain active and can't some days.

 

[winstonwt]

I am 65 and will be heading to the Gunnison river tomorrow at 6 am, all day on the water into the evening.

 

[mcnerney]

I am 65 and will be heading to the Gunnison river tomorrow at 6 am, all day on the water into the evening.

You'll love it. Last August, Rich (aka rangerrich99), Steve (aka waycool) and I did nine days on the Gunnison at Pleasure Park, it was awesome!
Our fishing buddy Muzzy is now guiding trips thru the canyon, so it was great getting caught up and sharing a cold brew together.

 

[brownbass]

65 out of shape, overweight, and COPD trying to get back in some kind of shape but it is a wake-up call. Just got back from a half day fishing and not feeling too bad. Got a full day fishing coming up once a week the next couple of weeks. Fishing is my incentive.

 

[al_a]

I thank my lucky stars that at age 66, I can still wade 4 miles one way (and hike back) for a day of fishing, or float 10 miles in my solo canoe as I did yesterday. Yeah, I have more aches and pains than I once had, and I move a little slower and more cautiously than I once did. But it's a small price to pay to do the thing I love.

 

[trout stalker]

I never understood the term the "Golden Years". It's more like the Tarnished Years. My body hurts just thinking about doing an activity.

 

[clsmith131]

I think about this all the time. I'm only 37 but have had 3 herniated discs. After sleeping on the ground last weekend and trouncing around a river with some moderate rafting mixed in, my back is just now starting to forgive me. I make a lot of noises getting up and down, and my joints already sound like a door hinge in need of WD-40. I hope I can still do it when I get to my 50's.

 

[spm]

I turned 70, yesterday and I agree; getting old sucks, but it's still better than the alternative.

steve

 

[karstopo]

As long as I don’t have to run, I’m good. Thankfully, fly fishing doesn’t normally require running. The upside is that I’m a good fishing partner to take along in grizzly bear country, no way you can’t out run me.

 

[rfb700]

I am 65 and will be heading to the Gunnison river tomorrow at 6 am, all day on the water into the evening.

That type of talk may get you lynched around here

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[AxisMike]

Just about pushing 60, time flies. Cool thing about getting older is that I have picked up some hobbys that I didn't do when I was young such as Fly Fishing, welding, golfing and drinking good scotch.

 

[plecain]

I'm 71.
This Spring I was fishing a local river when I saw an older guy just upriver fishing. He had gotten snagged on a bush out in the river and couldn't get his fly loose.
He didn't have waders on. I did, so I asked if he wanted me to free his line.
He said 'thanks', and I got his line free.
After thanking me again he said that things were getting harder as he got older. I asked how old he was. He said '96 and 1/2'.
He was alone and had driven his own truck to the river.
I can only hope.

 

[dennyk]

61 here, putting up with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. I'm getting treatments for both and are somewhat controlled. A 40 minute walk to where I start fishing a certain stream now takes me an hour and a half, glad to have some good cigars with me. I wear custom knee braces when I'm on my fishing trips and in the outdoors, they help alot! I need to be super careful wading having balance issues, I always have a wading staff, without that I'd be screwed!

But in saying all that I still have the same enthusiasm and excitement for my fly fishing as when I was a kid! Glad some things don't change!

Denny

 

[bumble54]

If you learn just one new thing every day of your life, by the time you die you will be very wise indeed. Seems such a waste. But then perhaps the learning process itself is the real joy of life.