It seems right after the holidays, I’m ready for spring. That’s because I spend most of the winter indoors, working on web sites, writing, doing taxes, reorganizing all my files, and generally getting all the mundane things out of the way so I won’t have to do them in the warm weather… when I could be out fishing, hiking, canoeing, gardening, or looking for gems and minerals (yup, I’m a rockhound, and in this area of Maine, that’s as popular as just about any other outdoor activity).
I usually get out the old tackle box and straighten out all my lures, leaders, sinkers, spoons, spinners and gadgets. I’ve been doing that since I was ten years old. I change the line on my reel. That’s when I notice all the wear and tear to my rod and reel that occurred sometime last year. And inside the house, I can hear all the new noises my reel’s making. I used to go through the catalogs or even out to the sporting goods store and look around for equipment, and sales on fishing lures that sometimes come up long before spring. It’s almost as much fun as the fishing itself.
Then, I get around to dusting all the dirt out of the bottom of my canoe. If you’ve never had a canoe, you’re really missing out. I bought one when I was young, and then I bought the one I really wanted. After 25 years, I still have it. It’s an old Mansfield Canoe, made in Maine. We used to go down rivers in that thing standing up. It was that stable. It was perfect just about anywhere I went with it. And, it was definitely one of the best investments I’ve ever made for having fun. We’ve used that canoe for at least four or five hundred mornings and afternoons over the years. And we hope to get that much use over again, though it is more than 20 years old now. The new ones are made of more durable materials, and will hold up to more abuse.
Come the height of summer, I’ll forget all about these preparations that make the colder days of winter a lot more fun. But, I’ll be having even more fun then.
See! Wait a couple weeks, and here ya go:
50% off a bunch of fun stuff for fishing!
