Jerry Krause's fishing pole is bowed, his senses are engaged and his smile is unmistakably wide as he plays the largemouth bass on the end of his line.

Shortly after landing and then releasing the fish into the pond behind his north suburban home, Krause leans back in his boat and sighs.

"This is relaxing, isn't it?" he says.

Five minutes later, Krause hooks another fish. But this feisty one snaps the line and swims off, raising Krause's interest.

"Did you see that thing?" he asks. "I have to catch that guy."

The contrast of Krause's reactions seems fitting for where the Bulls' former general manager stands in his life these days. During a lengthy interview at his home, Krause alternates between the picture of contentment and competitiveness.

He is relaxed one minute, restless the next.

He looks back at a past decorated by success but also views a future filled with possibilities.

"Who knows what will happen?" he says. "I'm not even sure what I want to do."

The health problems Krause and the Bulls cited when he stepped down from his dream job after 18 mostly successful seasons are improving rapidly, Krause says. He has been given medical clearance to return to work full time, if he so chooses.