Shane wrote:I get "crazy" much more than geek when people realize that by, "going fishing," I mean walking off alone into an African swamp full of snakes, crocs, hippos, and tropical diseases by myself for the better part of a day.
-Shane
I used to get the same kind of feed back at the office when I would drive to Montana to fly fish for Trout since my boss' office over looked Puget Sound from down town Seattle, WA.
He was from Hong Kong and would ask me why would I bother to drive from Seattle to SW Montana or Yellowstone National Park when we were surrounded by a good local Salmon fishery. I would tell him it was because Seattle and Puget Sound is too crowded. "Too Crowded", he would say, "You should see Hong Kong!"
My main worry was running into a Grizzly Bear. Not as many different threats as the places Shane has explored but there were also plenty of Rattlesnakes but I have lived most of my life around Rattlesnakes so they did not worry me... much. I did break a fly rod one time when I was scrabbling over some river side boulders along the Boise River in Idaho, an area famous for it's high population density of rattlesnakes, and one I couldn't see began buzzing at me from underneath a boulder. I jumped pretty high breaking the fly rod when I hit the ground. I had just come across a dead Rattler someone else had killed recently only a few minutes before so I was more on snake guard than usual. One nice thing about buying expensive fly rods is if you break one they will replace it free, no questions asked.
Never had as much of a label as a fish geek because I have been involved with the fish business long enough that most people who know me, know I earned money from my fish. People are less likely to classify you as a geek if what you do makes money. I spend money fly fishing and most people think you are crazy if you are willing to spend up to $800 for a "fishing pole".
Avid Trout fly fisherman. ·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
and that's that 
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