It’s that time of year – los of tasty food, family get-togethers, sock drawers restocked and the gift vouchers lined up for braving the crowds of shoppers in the cold.
Fingers crossed you got all the fishing supplies that you wanted in your Christmas stocking.
I don’t think Santa is delivering a lottery win any time soon but there were a few things on my wish list.
This season’s been good to me in terms of getting out exploring.
And the regular influx of Fish of the Week entrants has certainly spurred me on to try for new species.
I’ve found myself hunting bass and seeking out beaches or rocky points so often I’m verging on becoming a proper sea angler these days.
I’ve even managed to get my wife fishing enough times that she’s had to put a species list into her journal and the fishing gear is now a necessity on the packing list.
I’ve fished for a long time, and hopefully my fishes of Christmas past don’t outnumber the fishes of Christmas future.
I don’t need a visit from Jacob Marley’s ghost to know that we have but little time to fish and that if you want to actually catch the fish of a lifetime, you better spend more time trying to do it.
It’s good to go into every season hoping that the “wait till you hear about this” one is yet to come – and I hope I’m always going to think that.
Every time you are looking over the water, no matter what you’ve caught, there’s always the thought that the fish of a lifetime is in there.
You can’t be better than everyone but you can be better than you were yesterday.
Maybe that’s why we’re always seeking out up-to-date gear and cutting-edge training, then breaking it back down to the basics.
I’d like to fish more. I’d like to fish further and wider and to experiment with tackle. I’d like to meet more anglers and to pillage their expertise – or at least chat fishing over cups of coffee or a few pints.
First and foremost, though, I wish that you and yours had a jolly Christmas and 2020 will be happy and prosperous and loaded with opportunities to enjoy some formidable fishing.
Maybe not record-breakers – that would be presumptuous – but let them be fast, furious and fun.
Because the experience and the memories will sustain us whatever else happens.
