The beginning of each new year is a clean slate, an opportunity to set your intentions, personally and professionally. It’s a chance to reflect on the peaks and valleys of the prior year and look forward to what you hope to achieve in the coming year. After my first summer fly-fishing, in January of the new year, I wrote down exactly what I wanted to accomplish in fly-fishing during the season and how I wanted to improve. I’ve since repeated this goal setting opportunity for each new year.
By laying out all my fly fishing intentions for the new year and upcoming season, I set myself up to have an above average season and spend more time on the water. Which is really the ultimate goal, right?
Last year I set out to spend the majority of my summer backpacking to fish high alpine lakes and streams, and in 2017 I did just that. This year, I’m setting more travel goals, as well as setting a personal promise to progress my steamer game and volunteer at least 25 hours for my local Trout Unlimited Chapter.
Whether you’re a fly fishing newbie, seasoned pro or somewhere in between, I highly recommend setting a goal to
improve your fly-fishing whatever your skill level is. After all, by setting a few goals on the water, hopefully, you will actually spend more time on the water working to accomplish those goals. Below are a few goals I’ve set throughout the years. I hope you will find them as good starters to get you thinking about what your goals for this season might be.
Turn familiar spots into a learning spot At one point or another we get comfortable and find ourselves pulling up to our favorite hole after a long day at work and hucking the same fly into a spot we are 99.9% sure will produce a healthy trout. As tempting as it is to fish these holes over and over again, why not change it up! Try adventuring to a new stretch of your favorite river. Eventually, that new stretch will become familiar and you will have a better overall knowledge of the river, in turn granting yourself opportunities to catch more trout. If you just can’t give up fishing your favorite hole, try a new technique in that spot. If you are always nymphing the same hole, try throwing a streamer instead.
Teach a friend or a family member Pay it forward. I am extremely thankful to have had a great teacher when I first learned how to fly-fish. Do you know someone who is eager to learn how to fly fish? Take them fishing! By teaching a friend or family member you can get them excited about it as well as improve your own skills through teaching.
Have no goals but to spend more time on the water Ok, I’m not saying you shouldn’t have any goals! However, if you simply want to fish more in 2018, make that your goal for the new year. I can say that every year I hope to fish more days in the new year than I did the previous. Cheers to the fly-fishing adventures that await in the New Year!
Have a fly-fishing goal for the upcoming season? Share with us in the comments below.
1 comment
Super great advice. It was my loving wife who suggested I keep a Fly Fishing Journal. After each trip, and being new to the sport, I would record the fish caught and the fish that just nibbled, the stream, weather, leader length and flies I used, and any interesting events that happened. Then, of course, I would read these entries over the winter and try to figure out what I did right and what I need to work on. Should I shorten or lengthen my stroke or maybe shorten or lengthen my leader? I could also determine at what days of the season I had been in the middle of a good run of trout and maybe plan around that date to see if it was the same each year. For your first suggestion: Turn familiar spots into a learning spot; I actually did that last season. I trekked upstream from one of my favourite run, riffle & pool and found another generous run, riffle & pool that yielded up my first and only Brown Trout in a river usually filled with Fall Fish (affectionately known as Sewer Salmon in The Great State of Maine — so I’m told). Fly Fishing to me is a year-round sport because, like you suggest, there’s always something to do or learn even in the winter months which help set our goals. And goals lead to adventure. Thx …