Do you have a “bucket list,” a list of things you hope to do in your life? I have never had a formal one and, unlike the movie, I think I am too old to start one now. But there are many things I have done in my life I always dreamed of doing.

Catching salmon in Alaska like I read about in outdoor magazine was a dream, and I have been there two times. Both times I carried a collapsible Spiderman Rod I got at Berrys Sporting Goods with a Shimano spinning reel on it.

That outfit, along with a small box of jigs and spinners, fit in my backpack. Every time we went ashore from the cruise ship I caught salmon in any nearby stream. And, although that little rod bent double many times, it lasted until the last day of the last trip.

On the second trip, not only was I standing in a stream catching salmon on a fly rod on my 60th birthday, I fulfilled another dream, catching halibut in the bays there. Although the ones I caught were small, only 20 to 30 pounds, they were fun to catch. I’m not sure I could have reeled in a big one weighing over 100 pounds like in the pictures though.

Catching a barramundi in Australia was another dream, but it will never happen. I have always hated flying, and its kinda hard to get to Australia any other way. The last time I was on an airplane ruined any chance of flying anywhere in the future, so I will never catch a barramundi.

In 2010 we were flying out of Sitka, headed home. As the heavily loaded 737 rolled down the short, wet runway I did my usual, pulling up on the arm rests and thinking “get off the ground.” Just as the plane started getting “light” as it gained speed, there was a huge boom and the plane shook.

The pilot slammed everything in reverse and stopped about 100 yards from the end of the runway where it dropped into the bay. I found out later we were moving at 110 miles per hour and lift off speed was 115. We sucked an eagle into the port engine and destroyed it. If the pilot has hesitated even a second or two, we would have crashed into the bay.

No more flying for me.

Many of my dreams have been in driving distance. On a two-week driving trip out west, I caught cutthroat trout in Yellowstone Park. Linda and I hiked 5.5 miles to the Yellowstone River and I caught 22 of them in less than two hours. And got bites I missed or lost fish on almost every cast.

The hike back almost did me in. The first mile was almost straight up for 1400 feet then 4.5 more miles back to the car. We had not carried enough water and by the time I got back to the car I was so dehydrated I was having chills.

Linda’s job as a cruise travel writer enable me to go to Alaska twice, and other trips took this country
Georgia boy to places I dreamed of, and some I never even imagined visiting.

I have pictures of me squatting on the ice in Antarctica with penguins waddling by within arm’s reach. Visiting many European countries was interesting, especially Russia. Trips to South America, the Caribbean and Virgin Islands, Tahiti and other South Pacific islands was fun, and many of the more backward places really made me appreciate the USA!

On a trip 700 miles up the Amazon River I almost got to fulfill another dream. I have always wanted to catch peacock bass, and I wanted to set up a trip for them at the end of the cruise in Manaus, Brazil, a central place for fishing for them.

The cruise line had a charter jet to take us back to Miami, a five-hour flight, and we had only a few hours after getting off the ship until the flight home. When we looked at staying a few days so I could fish and flying home on our own, it was going to take us 17 hours of travel, with many stops in small airports, for the trip, so I missed that chance.

Peacock bass are now in Florida so maybe one day I will be able to drive there and catch some.

I have snorkeled in beautiful waters from Mexico to Hawaii and enjoyed those trips. Catching Yellowtail in the Sea of Cortes was a great trip, and on it I got to pet a wild gray whale, snorkel with sea lions, get so close to an orca that water from its blow by the boat wet me, and watch a pod of hundreds of dolphins.

Shooting 1000 doves a day in Argentina is another dream that won’t come true due to fear of flying. But I did get to see how much folks in that country love their beef on a trip through Buenos Aries on the way to Antarctica. In the restaurant Linda and I ordered the smallest steak on the menu and it was too much for the two of us.

Closer to home, my dream of being writer got its start thanks to Jim Berry. I have the enviable job of fishing with great bass fishermen, from the top pros to high school team fishermen, and it is wonderful. I go to a lake in Georgia and another in Alabama every month. And I really enjoy writing this column each week.

Not much beats fishing lakes closer to home in club tournaments. Fishing three a month keeps me on the water and having fun when not doing articles.

I will never complain about my life and the dreams come true for me.

I hope everyone gets to fulfill their bucket list and make their dreams come true.