Paddling alone vs. Paddling in a group

Yesterday evening I headed out fishing in hopes of getting on the "pre-storm" bite. I had caught 4 snook the night before, but was expecting even more on Monday evening due to the dropping barometric pressure. Unfortunately the snook weren't watching the same weather reports, and as it would so happen-they knew better than we did-we didn't get much of anything. I kept reminding the snook that they couldn't eat on Tuesday night; they needed to do so now. Of course they didn't listen to me, and wisely so. They will feed fine tonight! When I'm at home.

Anyhow, I was late getting to the launch site, and so had to paddle swiftly to catch up to my fishing buddy and his friend. The good news was that I was paddling with both the current AND the wind. The bad news was it seemed to take forever.

After catching two snook between the three of us (I did get one though), we headed in. This time we paddled together. Against a howling wind and swift current. Yet time passed by like O.J. driving in the express lane. We shot the breeze-quite a lot of "Pre-Fay" breeze there was to shoot-and had a great time paddling. I usually dislike paddling by the way; I view it as a necessary evil (kind of like vegetables) to get to my spots. But having the company made the journey so much easier. And actually enjoyable. I rarely fish by myself anymore if I can help it. And to me, fishing and life are basically interchangeable if not at the very least analogous.