At the onset of a brand new year, I suspect that most people embark on ambitious resolutions. You know, goals like loosing 30 lbs. or quitting smoking or learning how to speak a foreign language. Big goals. Hard goals.
Not me. I’m keeping things simple and easily attainable this year.
Oh, I’ve done the ambitious resolution thing in the past. And by all rights, I should do so again this year. I am a very imperfect human in need of many improvements. I bet my wife could list twenty just off the top of her head. And while I would like to be a better person, I just can’t be this year.
Just think of the song lyrics, “I wanna do right but not right now.”
When it comes to New Year resolutions, I have had checkered past. I did quit smoking decades ago—that’s my hallmark resolution accomplishment. But God knows I could still lose some weight. And wouldn’t it be neat to speak Spanish or Swahili or even Double Dutch?
Maybe next year. Not this year.
Why? Because this year: I hereby resolve to “relearn” how to fish.
You read right. Fish.
And I can do this. I can achieve this.
Yeah, I’ve fished here and there over the years. And yeah, I know how to tie a hook and reload a spinning spool. I might even remember how to flay. But I really haven’t seriously fished since I was in high school. And I wasn’t too serious about it then either.
Plus, that was Minnesota fishing—a bobber and twenty feet of water. Crappies, Sunnies, and maybe a Northern or Walleye. But Flathead Lake is deeeeeep. And in the summer, I am told, the fish go deep. And we are talking trout. Sometimes biiiiiig lake trout. So, no more bobber. My bobber days are behind me.
It is time to learn how to do the deep-water jig!
Truth be told, while I love to eat fish, I have never been that interested in fishing per se. But I do love being out on Flathead Lake. And fishing, the way I see it, will provide me with a whole new excuse for being out on the water.
So, if you encounter my unimproved self this year (2017), please “cut me some slack.” Maybe I’ll get back on a self-improvement trajectory next year. Maybe. Yeah 2018. And if you don’t encounter my unimproved self this year, you’ll know why.
I’ve gone fishing.
HNY!