Just in time to prepare for next season

I scrubbed my raft for the last time this season. My outfitter and I had to break ice from the hose to get anything more than a trickle out of it. As I scrubbed a season’s worth of mud, sand, fish slime and twigs from the floor of the deflated raft, I couldn’t help but think of the many hours I’d spent on the water this year. As I was finishing up the last task of the year, my mind began to drift on to other projects that I would need to address before the rivers thaw again and the fish start to migrate upriver once again.

The first project is refilling the fly box, something that will have to be spread out from now until April and May. My efforts last winter kept me mostly stocked throughout the entire season. I’ll need several more dozen large and brightly colored Dolly Llamas for chasing chums and silvers next August. I fished dry flies more this year than in any year previous and my Elk Hair Caddis supply is looking a bit low. For my own personal fishing, I’ll need to tie up some more Russian River Flies for my bonsai trips south in June. Looks like I’ll be making some trips to 3 Rivers Fly and Tackle!

Next is breaking down all of my rods, cutting off old leaders and tippets and putting rods and reels in their respective cases. I ended the season with one less six weight after getting the line wrapped around my feet as I ran to net a fish for my client in September. I’ll need to see if I have another rod section in my collection of broken rods that sit in the corner of my garage like some sort of fisherman’s purgatory.

I’ve contemplated whether I should send my waders back to the manufacturer or not to see if they will fix the zipper issues I’ve experienced most of the year. I have several leaks that need patching as well. I’ll need them a bit longer to get through the fall waterfowl season, but maybe in December I’ll send them back and, fingers crossed, receive them a little bit drier before it’s time to chase early spring trout once again.

I tell myself every year that I’ll have all the gear that I need to get through the upcoming guide season. My frequent trips during the summer to the fly shop say otherwise. Maybe this will be the year that I actually start planning a couple of months ahead and acquire the appropriate hooks, split shot, beads, indicators, tippet, tying materials and more. Maybe this year I’ll make a list!

Perhaps the most daunting task that I face is organizing my Yeti box that I use to store all of my tackle on the raft. It starts out nice and clean, organized and tidy. Right now it’s a tangled mess of old leaders, flies, lures I find in the river, used bead pegs, bent hooks, candy wrappers, crumbs and spilled nail polish. That’s a project most enjoyed while listening to a podcast and sipping hot tea in the garage as I pick out each individual hook, fly and bead and organize them into the appropriate box.

Projects like these are best suited for the darkest and coldest days of winter, when I can let my mind go back to summertime on the water and start thinking of warmer days to come.