Not me... (photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/akras/)
It’s starting again, already–I’m missing fishing during these cold winter months, and I’m already thinking about getting out on the lake again as soon as possible. Where I live, in northeast Kansas, it’s been really cold lately–the wind chill has been down around zero now and then this past week, but I keep looking over at my tackle bag in the corner of my study, and looking forward to the day I take it back out again for the first time in the spring.
This is the time of year that I should probably be cleaning my reels, cleaning out my tackle bag, throwing out the old line, and getting my gear all ship-shape for spring fishing. But it’s been too busy for that, unfortunately, and I suspect that unless something changes, I’ll probably take my gear out sometime in early March and wish I had taken time during the winter to clean and grease the reels, replace the line, and clean up my tackle bag.
Even though it’s cold here, the lakes aren’t frozen over completely, and the cold weather comes and goes–it doesn’t settle in for a hard freeze all winter like they have up north, so I doubt I’ll be trying my hand at ice-fishing any time soon. But come January 1, I will be doing what has become an annual New Year’s Day tradition for me–purchasing my fishing license online. And as soon as I get a Saturday morning when the sun’s shining and the temperature is somewhere above 30 degrees, I’ll be wetting a line, for sure.
If you’re fishing where you live (whether it’s through the ice or on a warm southern lake somewhere), I’d sure love to hear your stories this winter!
I know how you feel. I live in Sooke, BC, which is just outside of Victoria on Vancouver Island. Normally we would be out trying to catch some winter springs, but the snow has hit our usually un-frozen island. We’ve got temperatures around -10 C, I’m sure that isn’t as cold as many places, but when it never snows, you sure feel it when it does.
Hopefully it will warm up and wash away soon so we can try for the end of the run, otherwise, we’re in the same boat as you, waiting for spring. A trip to New Zealand right about now sounds really nice.
If you get ambitious and tackle your gear maintenance, don’t forget that it’s a good idea to change the line on your spools every so often.
Have a happy holiday!
Cheers,
Jennifer
http://www.BestFishingKnots.com