The boredom has set in. After a few dozen flies each day it starts to get to you. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Its that time of year where I would rather be fishing. Every day I go out makes me want it that much more. The river is calling and I must go.

The drive and desire to be outside, in sync with the river, that sense of adventure is setting in. The flow of the river under me and around me. Its a part of me that has been a struggle in my personal life. But I have embraced it in myself. That connection and dare I say addiction to it, can be hard to explain, hard for others around me to comprehend; but it is a part of me that I am very comfortable with. I check out of the off river life and check in to the riverside. I focus and put my passion into what I love to do. Yes to make me my living but it has become an integral part of what makes me…me.

As I inch closer to the season I get anxious. I am not good at much else besides fly fishing these days. Failed at a lot of things, tried a lot of things, and fly fishing and guiding is the one thing that has stuck for me. I hold onto it very tightly. I was reminded of what I have done and how I do it by the closest of friends today. It made me realize that my hard work has paid off in a lot of ways. And while I may be a shenanigan magnet, I also have become successful enough and failed enough to bounce back and pick myself up quickly, learned a few lessons over the years. Adapt quickly just like the troot I chase.

Things off river have gone through some big changes. So the anticipation of being riverside again is unbearable at times. I miss it. And its been a weird, kinda lonely off season with zero settle in it. So getting back to a rythym I am familiar with, making some money, and doing what I love and what I do best is constantly on my mind. Patience…a skill that is constantly being tested and improved. When all you do is fish, and you don’t do it for a while, you end up not having a whole lot going on until you’re fishing every day. It can make long down times really uncomfortable. I am fortunate that fly tying and generating early season business typically keep things a little busy and everything good. This off season just wasn’t normal so its been wonky. So the anticipation is higher and earlier than usual. I am also just generally stoked. I was really busy last year and every year things get busier and more crazy shit happens so what’s not to look forward to.

Its close. A few weeks and all of the sudden things start to change. 4 to 6 days a week on the river. Getting the body really ready for the season. Getting that feel for the river rythym again. Feeling the weather roll in and shift, how the days warm, that sun charges you. After years of being outside more days than not there is no substitute for some vitamin D via good ‘ol sunshine. But to just feel everything come back to life and wake up each day. It is sorely needed. It helps get me ready for the fun part. The work.

The work starts when the river says so but typically first week or 2 or March. Dialing things in, finding the lines, how the fish are moving, prediction charts, flows, forecasts, water temps, it all starts. Clients show up and things really start rolling. The challenge of it all, the stuff and the things, figuring it out and settling into it for another season. This is the time when I really start looking forward to it all. Sharing the experiences with anglers and going back to that high energy, mind and body working kind of person I love to be.

Every day its closer. Now its just curbing the boredom after the dozens of flies are tied each day until the days are filled with being knee deep in a run, or the feel of the flex on my sticks in the boat against the spring flows, that rod bent on a waking up fish, the flutter of insects along the rivers surface. Closer every day.

See ya riverside on the warm days anglers.

Tamarack