The new season is just around the corner for many of us now. Graham Nicol prepares himself and wonders if he needs something new to hit the water on opening day...of course he does!
Reflection upon another fishing season having slid by can bring forth many memories, most pleasant, and the occasional not so (usually poor conditions and lost fish). The ideal time to carry this out is during the close season when the nights draw in far too early and the wind outside is rattling the window panes along with sleet and rain. The fire needs to be roaring and next to you in your favourite seat is a tipple that rejuvenates.
Without question your thoughts then migrate to the forthcoming season. What will it bring? Is it likely to better than last, what will be the highlights; and lowlights? How often will I fall in? Can I improve my disappointing hooked to landed ratio or will I spend less (or more) time retrieving flies out of trees, whins and bushes. Why is it that there may be only one tree in the vicinity and despite you taking note of it precisely you manage, in fact are guaranteed, to get snarled up in it? When non-fisherman say “I haven’t got the patience for it” what they don’t realise is it refers to repairing tangled leaders and cock-ups courtesy of these trees, odd gusts of wind that appear from nowhere and simply poor technique! The actual fishing part is fun; it’s just the rest takes up a lot of time.
If you vary your fishing by trying out different locations it is around this time you have to prepare and plan. If you visit the same places each year then it is relatively easy although there is still the painful part of coughing up some dosh for it. If variety is your spice of life then there is a lot more groundwork to be done. However, the internet has made this task much easier and enjoyable. There is nothing better that trawling it reading reports, gawping at some stunning specimen fish, getting information from blogs and looking at some official sites who proudly claim to be the best for this, that and everything. I guess we anglers are suckers just like women are with clothes and shoes except that we don’t acknowledge it and nevertheless claim “it’s different”. It’s great to be in denial for so long, and get off with it. So we refine and discuss with our fishing buddies and finally come to a conclusion with regard to which river or lodge we are opting for. Again the painful deposit is prised out of us but what the heck we have a trip lined up. Of course it doesn’t stop there as we need new kit. Hmmm, sound like the women with clothes analogy coming back to haunt us. Between now and the trip we consider whether we have the correct clothing, correct rods, reels, lines, etc and how many back-ups we require. A fun part is on fly selection. If you are like me and tie them then you go completely over the top and tie a variety of patterns in a succession of sizes and after the trip realise you used less than 10% of them! But that is all part of the adventure. Women do it with handbags (sounds like I have an issue with women and spending patterns; I must visit my therapist again for treatment). As we approach the appointed date, and more money has been elicited from us the anticipation builds. Sleep consists of dreams of optimum conditions with fish doing what they ought to being interspersed with worry that you may not all the necessary kit. You then studiously follow the weather forecasts to the point of monotony only to realise it doesn’t matter for there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. The day arrives and you and your mates meet up and the journey begins
Guess what? The trip flashes by and you can’t believe you are on your way back home. Where did all the time go to? Why does the time at the office not move as quickly as a trip does? It is only later does the whole trip sink in and you opine as to whether it falls into your top or bottom 3.
So we are back at the end of the season and we have to ask the rather simple but not easy to answer question. What is better the anticipation and preparation of a trip or actually being there and experiencing it? Or is it all part of the package of fishing? I suspect the latter. But I don’t know for after my 5th tipple I don’t give a sh*t!
Tight lines.......hic