New Year Fishes

It's horribly cliche' to use my blog to look back and/or to peek ahead on Dec. 31, but I'm going to do it anyway. I find it fun to think a little about the cool places I've gotten to explore and about where I might get to venture next.

Best I can figure from a quick sweep of the map, I got to fish about 14 states, plus one foreign country last year. South end of the spectrum easily was Costa Rica. Northern end was a close call between Devils Lake North Dakota and a couple of trips in Northern Minnesota. If the the species list I kept is complete, I caught 30 different species of fish.

My children often ask my favorite part of a movie, meal or family outing, so I've been trying to pick out a favorite fishing trip or day from last year. I don't think I can do it, though. I sure enjoyed discovering the Black Hills for the first time and pulling a host of fish species through the ice on rugged and beautiful mountain lakes, but how do I compare that with exploring the spectacular Vermilion River by canoe with Billy Rosner and catching big, mean smallmouth bass on topwater lures? And then there were the monkeys and toucans in Costa Rica, the day of pounding big bream and bass catching with Nathaniel on Jimmy Houston's lake, days of doubling and tripling on redfish in South Louisiana and then feasting on Cajun cooking...

Looking ahead, the planned trip I'm most looking forward to at this moment is to Gaston's Resort on the White River in Arkansas. It's an annual writers' gathering that Nathaniel and I  have participated in a few times but have had to miss for the past couple of years. Great fishing and food, time with friends and the destinations itself all combine to make it a great trip. Of course, I'm also really looking for a multi-species trip to Pennsylvania's Pymatuning Lake for many of the same reasons.

But then again, when I look at some of last year's favorite trips, I didn't know most would even happen a year ago. I really don't know what states I'll be fishing in, who I'll be with, what species I'll be targeting or what types of techniques I'll be using in the year ahead. That's a big part of the fun, though. I enjoy fishing for bluegills one trip and for something big from the ocean the next trip, and I love the variety of landscapes, cultures and fishing techniques I get to discover and people I get to meet in different places.

December!

It's sort of hard for me to believe that the calendar page turned to December this morning. Of course, a few things have reminded recently that winter has arrived. Most notably, I suppose, we had some sleet a couple of days ago. Another good clue should be that I'll be ice fishing in about two weeks and that one fisherman friend I spoke with just this week was sitting atop the ice catching walleyes! I'm also looking at my family's Christmas tree as I write this, and we've been doing Advent readings around the table every evening this week.

I'm looking forward to a couple of ice trips this winter. The first is to Northern Minnesota, with assorted panfish being the main objective. The second (in mid-January) is to Devils Lake, North Dakota, where I'll fish for walleyes, yellow perch and northern pike. I took three separate ice trips last year and really enjoyed the experience. I also got a lot of good story material and photos and have had fun learning about and writing about ice fishing.

Next stop, though, is the Niagara River, where I get to spend a couple of days with Frank Campbell. Steelhead are tops on the list, but it's hard to fish the Niagara with Frank without catching a variety of fish. Winter is an exciting time because the steelhead and trout pour into the river from Lake Ontario. It can be seriously cold, but the fishing can be fabulous.

It seems like I should learn to find trips that begin in an airplane pointed SOUTH this time of year, but I really am looking forward to this winter's great northern adventures.