Fitness for Fishing? You betcha!

Charles Bailey - a.k.a. the "Big Punisher"

I sometimes catch some flak from folks when I tell them that I do some tournament fishing and that it is a great sport to be involved with. They often kind of chuckle and say "sport?...riiiggghhhttt".

Of course, none of them have ever gotten up at 4:30 am and spent the next 12 hours on their feet making hundreds of casts while enduring bone jarring runs in extreme weather conditions. Ratchet it up a notch if you are the lucky one poling the boat or if you have any pre-existing health problems.

Now that I am in my 40's I have really started feeling it after a long morning on the water. Not to mention the fact that I was the lucky recipient of a titanium neck in 1998 so I have some extra issues to deal with. On a tough day with rough runs down the river when our float plan is about power fishing and not sight casting, I am typically whooped by around lunchtime and my arms, shoulders, back, and knees are killing me.

I am a firm believer that tournament fishing is all about mental conditioning. Not many other sports require such a degree of concentration. Think about it, a professional golfer only has to make 60-70 precise shots per day in what is typically a 4 hour period. A tournament angler has to make hundreds of precise casts in what is typically a 10 hour period.

So, after lunch on most tournament days my mind started to become distracted by the pain I was feeling in my body. Unfortunately, our typical tournament doesn't find us with a full livewell by that time so there is never time to relax in the afternoon. By the time the boat was washed and garaged, I would be an emotional and physical wreck that only a heating pad, a couple of rum & cokes, and some Advil would cure.

After stepping on a Publix scale last summer and seeing more numbers than ever before in my life, I made a resolution to start working on my body and overall health. I had honestly never before set foot in a gym but I joined Sportsplex out at Neptune Beach and was introduced to Charles Bailey who I hired as my personal trainer. The two goals I discussed with Charles were that I wanted to learn how to work out without injuring myself and also wanted to make my workouts very efficient because I don't have much time to spend in the gym.

We started a bi-weekly program together and let me tell you, it was hell in the beginning. I started calling him the "big punisher" because I could hardly get out of bed sometimes. He is a competitive weightlifter who can literally bench press over 700 lbs which is more than the hull of my new Egret weighs.

After getting more involved, I have started to work out 4-5 days a week and meet with "the big punisher" a couple of times per month to make sure I am on track. He has started to fine tune some of my workouts to be more in line with motions used for casting and poling the boat. I can honestly say after 5 months I have seen excellent results both on and off the water so it has been time and money well spent.