I know, you’re hurting. I’m hurting too friend. Fly fishing withdrawals are in full effect here in New England and we’re all starting to go just a little crazy…and by a little bit, I mean we’re all not sure if we’re even going to make it till Spring. Have no fear though, there is hope. The bright sunny days almost feel like Spring and there’s always plenty to do to make your off-season a little less hellish. Sort of.
Just Go Fishing Anyways
Yes, ice fishing sucks. Let’s just get that out of the way right now. Still though, do you want sit on your butt jigging a lure up and down with a tiny little rod while watching a flasher screen for signs of fish, or would you rather sit on your butt just watching a screen at home. Exactly. It’s better by just enough to convince you to get out there.
Or, if you have a bank account that doesn’t look like you’ve spent all your money on fly fishing gear and beer, book a flight or hit the road and head somewhere warm and toasty, where there’s fish. No matter where in the world you call home, there’s probably somewhere within a day’s drive or a cheap flight that’s warm enough to let you chase some fish. Sure you might have to sell a kidney to afford that dream trip to a far-off Atoll swarming with bonefish and GTs, but you’ve got two kidneys. You’re good.
Organize Gear And Tie Flies Like A Madman
Even if you packed up all of your gear into a neatly organized, collated and clearly labeled corner of your gear room at the end of the last season, do it again. If you organized your gear alphabetically, do it again by species. If you did it by species already, reorganize it based on color and size. If you need something else to do, start over.
You can also use this time to tie flies like crazy and fill up all of your flyboxes now, before the season hits. Every Winter when I run out of space in all of my flyboxes, even the ones I never use and just keep on hand for overflow from my excessive and obsessive tying, I start tying other things. No place to fish for steelhead within a day’s drive? Better tie at least two flyboxes worth. Probably will never fish for tarpon for at least another decade? Better tie three boxes full. Tigerish in the Amazon? I’ll definitely never fish for those anytime soon. I need at least four flyboxes full.
Learn The Exciting Art Of Knitting
Just kidding; screw that. (To all of you people reading this that are hardcore knitters, I’m sorry, those are just the facts). The off-season is a good time to learn new skills that you won’t have time to learn during the fly fishing season. Learn how to tie flies, learn a whole array of new fly fishing knots, build yourself a gorgeous wooden drift boat, learn how to build fly rods.
The greatest part of fly fishing is that there’s always more to learn. Even if you’re actually a vampire, you’re 1,500 years old and you’ve been fly fishing since it was invented, there’s still something new to learn, and new species to master catching on the fly. You don’t have any excuses, (except garlic for the one vampire dude), it’s time to learn a new skill this Winter.
Want to make your off-season a little less miserable? Get hooked up with new flies and gear, or fly tying kits sent right to your door every month by signing up for Postfly now.
