I never lie to my wife about going fishing. Her best friend got me into bass fishing and most of the time, I am fishing with one of her friends anyway. I don't even lie about the rods and reels and tackle I buy often. She always tell me that as long as the bills are paid, she doesn't care. Trust is very important to a relationship, so why risk losing it in the first place.

Kind of off topic, but still relevant, is my friend who's dad "retired" from working (he was a Mac Tools guy) for two years before he told his wife he retired.

 

He had been stock car racing on and off most of his life, and when not racing he went to the track with his son who raced too, but his wife was never interested. He had a shop where he ran his business out of, and his race cars were kept there the various periods of his life when he had them.

 

Well he was in his early 60's and decided to quit smoking so he figured he'd need a hobby. So he bought a modified and put it in the shop and didn't tell his wife. Then he figured he made his money, enough to retire, so he sold his Mac route and retired, and didn't tell his wife. So every day he would get up and get dressed "for work" in his Mac tools stuff and drive off to the shop and work on the Modified, and then on Fridays go racing with his son, but his wife was none the wiser because there was never any change in his daily routine.

 

Of course, when he crashed it one night that all changed, but he managed to pull it off for a couple seasons before it caught up with him. He's in his late 70's now, and you can still see him pedaling his modified a few times a year and he is still married to the same long-suffering racing widow who loves him anyway.

On 6/6/2018 at 9:57 AM, NYWayfarer said:

That mantra is usually followed by another one:

 

"Why do men die before their wives? Because they want to."

You're a wise man, sir.

All of a sudden everybody’s a marriage counselor! Come on man cut it out! Every one has lied to their wives at one time or the other and the truth is most wives don’t like us to go fishing all the time.

My wife occasionally also reads this forum, so I absolutely NEVER lie about when and how much I fish.

Does telling your wife that work is gonna be slow tomorrow so the boss said to take the day off, and then tell her you are going fishing count as something bad? ??

I just say I'm going fishing.  Taking time to yourself is healthy for you and your marriage.  Early on, I communicated fishing as more of a necessity than leisure - it helps me refresh for work and school and keeps me in a better mood, which is good for our relationship.  With everything, there should be a balance too - so, as long as you're spending time with her and the kids, there is no reason you shouldn't spend time for yourself.  To rephrase that - you should spend some time for yourself for the sake of harmony in yourself, obligations, home, and things in general. 

Knowing Junger personally (and having had his wife on my boat too) trust me,  he's not fooling her. LOL

I had my wife wondering what I was doing one time. I was going fishing with a guy from work that I had never fished with before. We were going to a new lake we had never been to before. He lived closer to the lake and wanted to take his boat. I drove to his house and we went fishing. Imagine my wifes surprise when she finds my boat sitting in the garage. I just honestly forgot to tell her we were taking his boat.

I tell the wife I'm going to the lake for a couple hours. Leave before 6am and come home when I've had enough. Sometimes it's  a couple, couple hours in the end.