Getting paid to fish: Is it possible?

Since I have the opportunity to choose any topic for this blog entry, this blogger has decided that he is going to bore you all tremendously, and rant on how I could possibly achieve the impossible; getting paid to fish!

First, a little background. Since I was a small child, I have always been at home on the water. As a child, I fished in ponds around my neighborhood, and occasionally would fish with my dad on his small boat in the Chesapeake Bay.

As I got older, especially once I had my driver's license, I would spend every summer on the Outer Banks. There, I would fish every waking moment. I really began surf fishing for Spanish Mackeral and Bluefish from piers and the beach. Eventually, after meeting others interested in the same thing, I learned how to target more elusive species such as Sheepshead, Red Drum, and Speckled Trout.

From there, as I grew older and more experienced, I was invited on boat trips with others, constantly learning new things. At this point, I was now spending a rather substantial amount of money on fishing equipment. It eventually became common practice to spend $600 or more for a custom rod and reel. The cost of my hobby didn't matter to me though, I was working on a fishing pier, so I could literally fish for the better part of every day.

At that point, at around 18 years of age, I realized that I wanted to be paid to fish. In direct defiance of my parent's wishes, I began working as a first mate on various offshore fishing charter boats. I would get up at 4:00 AM daily, prepare the boat (50+ foot yachts), and make the daily 50 mile offshore trek to the Gulf Stream. I spent three summers in this exact routine, pursuing various pelagic species such as Marlin, Dolphin, Wahoo, and Tuna.

At some point though, I realized that the grunt work wasn't for me. As much fun as it was, I didn't want to bait some tourist's hook every day for the rest of my life. At this point, I had several close friends who were all in basically the same position, and we each took different paths.

Justin's parents own a chain of incredibly lucrative tackle shops in North Carolina, so he's pretty much set, aside from an undergraduate business degree which his parents required. Likewise, Ketch's parents are filthy rich and bought him a 70ft yacht and a house in Tortola; he's now living the life. Jack decided to work in restaurants for the summer and move to Bali for six months each year, fishing and surfing. Andrew joined the coast guard and now captains a 40ft cutter in Oregon, he's on the water every day and loves every minute of it. So that leaves me.

I'm now about to graduate with my MBA, and I have a strong background in marketing, intellectual property, and project management from my work and educational experience. So where do I go from here? I've thought about working for a fishing manufacturer in product development in some capacity perhaps, or even as a marketing rep for a boat manufacturer, but I just haven't come across the right position. Well, I'm not giving up on the dream yet. See you guys on the water!