So it’s January, the start of a whole new year.
Of course, I still haven’t finished shovelling some of the snow that fell at the end of last year, and then there’s trying to live up to my New Year’s resolutions.
Making New Year’s resolutions, for me, has always been about as practical as taking one’s pay cheque and investing the whole thing in a lottery ticket. The odds of any sort of success are simply not in one’s favour. Which I guess brings me to my point. This coming year, I have resolved to do things that are not only practical, but also have half a chance of actually coming to fruition, things that are more or less ‘doable,’ that just might get off the ground, that have a snowball’s chance – you get my point.
I suppose I could do some really basic things, practical things that need doing, like check all my fly lines, leaders and tippets to make sure the lines are clean and there are no wind knots in the leaders. I can sort through and reorganize my fly boxes. While I’m at it, I could install a couple of nice, comfortable padded seats with backrests in my boat. It would certainly be a lot easier on my back.
When it comes down to it, there is no end to things that could be done well in advance so they are out of the way and taken care of before I head out to go fishing and realize I never quite got around to doing them.
Even if I could get some of the them done it would be a nice change.
Maybe I’ll make plans to go to one of the spring outdoor shows. I haven’t been to one in a couple of years. I enjoy walking around and looking at all the new fishing gear, talking to the sales and tech representatives and asking questions about the most expensive piece of gear they have to offer.
I just like to watch their eyes light up when they think they might have a sale. Afterwards, I could write a sort of humorous magazine article about my experiences.
It has been a couple of years since I have written anything for any of the outdoor magazines. It shouldn’t be that hard to come up with a few ideas that I could expand into feature articles. Of course, I would have to take some photographs to go along with the articles. I do own a camera and I do sort of have the skill set. But that will have to wait until spring because I am certainly not going to go out in the cold and risk falling through the ice into freezing water just to write an article.
Boy, it didn’t take long to talk myself out of that one. But I do resolve to submit at least a couple of articles this coming year.
Having said that, they just might be interested in an article about stream fishing where I combine fishing with gold panning. After all, I do make a point of taking my gold pan along when ever I go stream fishing, and a break-down fishing rod whenever I head out gold panning. I know a couple of perfect spots.
Between getting things done beforehand, going places and writing articles, I’m going to be pretty busy.
In the past, I’ve never been all that successful when it comes to keeping New Year’s resolutions. But this year, they really do seem, more or less, well, doable. Maybe the trick all along has been to resolve to do things that are simple and practical.
One thing for sure this coming fishing season, I’m going to spend a lot more time just sitting out in my boat, leaning back in my new, comfortable, padded seat, enjoying everything that surrounds me – all the sights and sounds and smells. I’ll just lean back, shut my eyes, listen, breath in the fresh air and put together thoughts that I can write down in article form when I get home and send off to the magazines.
Who knows what brilliant ideas for articles I might come up with – ideas for magazines and this column.
Boy, maybe I am finally getting the hang of this whole New Year’s resolution thing. I think I’ll head into town and check out seats for my boat. Now where did I put my cordless drill?