The winter has been mild, but I’ve still been more bored than I ever have in an offseason. It’s hasn’t been particularly cold, and we don’t have feet of snow on the ground like last year at this time…but then again it’s not even February yet.

This offseason has been me mostly at home…being a dad, tying flies, and playing a ridiculous amount of hours of video games and Netflix binge sessions. I’m bored, I need Trout in my everyday, and I’m done waiting. Now of course it’s freakin snowing but it’s almost February and no matter what, February is the month that starts it all off.

I’ve got no hurry to get to guiding this season, I was busy last year, my lady has a full time gig, so there’s no immediate rush to get to guiding. So I can enjoy the transition from hibernation and boredom…to life dictated by River and Trout. I get to spend the month getting back into shape for the season, getting in touch with the river, turning up my own fishing and rowing skills in preparation, and spend every hour off river at the vise in the last mad dash to tie enough flies to offset the cost of the guide season! It’s here!

The desire to chase fish grows every day. I stare longingly at my boat anxious to get her all primed for the season. Rods get restrung with fresh fly lines, double tapers get turned around, New fly box foam, patch the waders, dust off the net, grab the satchel, get the oars out of the bedroom and back in the boat. It’s that frantic list of things to get done while also trying to spend every minute fishing. I had to cool my jets this week with the snowstorm and Mother Nature reminding me who’s in control here. The added snow to the mountains will only improve conditions for my beloved Trout as the season moves through the summer.

Add on top of everything else, and the dad stuff, and the conservation side of things is also picking up. Between emails, meetings, phone calls, and get togethers, some serious work to benefit the headwaters and our native Trout is coming to fruition again this season. On the backs and by the hands of the dedicated few I might add. The winter slowness is waning and the spring slowly creeps in.

It’s that time of the year where we wait, and the blogs start pouring out to make the necessary and inevitable patience that I must endure tolerable. So here we go anglers…every day we inch closer to Trout season!

Tamarack