Hey Fellow ISA Members,
Well it’s been about a year since I made the hard decision to step away from the ISA Leadership and Newsletter. Tough decision but one that I now feel was the right decision. Last season was a bad season for me sight wise. I struggled with hitting my target while casting. Usually not even knowing where that damn lure was even going most of the time. This was using traditional gear. Very frustrating. My plan is to focus more on the fly rod this year as I believe the big colorful fly line will assist in casting on target because I can see it. Anyway, enough about my struggles.
Since stepping down, I have started to produce my own newsletter, Kishwaukee Valley Newsletter (KVN), also, I created Kishwaukee River Rec, which is a Kishwaukee River safe level guide to help inform and educate people on the levels of the Kish as it pertains to the USGS PRY12 gage, which is the most popular reach on the Kish. I am currently looking at different ideas of promoting this on a wider scale. I believe it will save at least one life.
Near the end of 2023, I was contacted by a group of blind veterans called the, National Blinded Veterans Organization, asking if I would join their team and help out, which of course I did. Funny thing, I had already been working on the same very idea that they presented to me. In 2019, when I attended a VA blind rehabilitation center program, I walked out of there with so many visual aid devices, that when I got home after the 6 week program, it was all a bit overwhelming. Lot of learning to pack into a 6 week program.
We at NBVO.org plan to fix that by offering support with these devices. The website and everything else we do is all done by blinded vets.
If you know of a vet, with a vision impairment, feel free to share our site with them.
Links:
https://nbvo.org
https://nionwebsites.wixsite.com/nbvoaid
I can say that with my vision, the way it is now, fishing just isn’t as enjoyable as it once was.
Not that I still don’t enjoy it, just not as much.
Sorry for the long post but just thought I’d let you know what I’ve been up to. Looking forward to reading your fishing reports this season.
Go out and catch a Brutus!