The 2 flygirls are no longer newbies. We've grown tremendously as anglers this year. Looking back, my only regret (and valuable lesson learned) is that too often I've let this blog get in the way of my fishing, specifically the pressure to take good pictures of the fish we've caught. It's not a problem when I'm fishing with Josée. But on my own, it's been challenging and frustrating at times (I'm not about to take a poor fish out of the water and bank him/her for a money shot). Next year, I'm just not going to sweat it. Besides, there is way too much porn (fish porn, that is ; ) out there on the internet.
So, 6 months of fishless days loom ahead. I'm naturally a bit saddened but also partially relieved. There are so many things I've put on the back burner. "I'll get to that when the fishing season is over," my friends, coworkers, and family members have heard me say over and over again. Now, there are no more excuses. I can finally
- catch up on homework for my evening class (I've been a bad student)
- devote some time to actually designing this shotgun blog we started just 6 months ago
- build a rod rack for my car
- start planning our next big fly fishing adventure (New Zealand? Canada? Belize? salmon? bonefish?)
- do some skiing/snowboarding when I get too stir-crazy in the city.
At some point during the season, I became a fly fishing junkie : ) I'm sure I'll suffer from fly fishing withdrawal over the winter. When the shakes become real bad, I guess I'll just have to bundle up, go outside and cast...cast...cast! Here's hoping for an early spring.
do you unspool your lines, loosely coil and drape them over a hanger in the closet next to your waders?
ReplyDeleteHi Craig, no we don't, but I'm guess we should. You inspired me to research off season gear maintenance. I know that with reels you should release the drag before storage. And I guess you should clean and oil them too. I definitely don't think about my line except cleaning it once a year. Thanks for the tip.
ReplyDeletebut you ARE going to practice when Mother Nature gifts you with a nice warm sunny winter day ? .... say yes !
ReplyDeleteYes! Yes! Yes! Of course : )
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