Back in the Garage

With a work change that started on January 1^st, I’m now in the novel and enviable position of being able to fish on weekdays instead of fighting the crowds on weekends. But the flexibility in my schedule has also allowed me to get back to my roots of spending long periods in the garage working on tackle.

It’s something that I used to do quite a bit in my 20s and 30s – long days sitting in the boat, spooling up 10, 12 or more rods, and getting ready for the next trip. I even proposed to my wife Hanna in that space – it’s a long story for another time. But those days of meditative reorganization got away from me. A tighter schedule was the biggest part of that. Another was that I got away from tournament fishing. It just didn’t matter to me if I had the freshest possible line and a perfectly-tied knot. 

But last Saturday, while my wife Hanna had a friend in town from Florida, I spent the better part of five hours with my stuff. No TV, no radio, no conversation. The phone was at my side, but I used it only sparingly. I spooled up reels – and I’m scared to think about how old some of that braid might have been. I took out tackle that had played in February and March and replaced it with my summer arsenal. I even threw out some hooks and lures that had rusted and were unlikely to ever get used again.

Now with more time, I’m rediscovering the joy of being organized, prepared and more attuned to what’s actually in the boat. I don’t want to get out on the water and suddenly realize that I don’t have precisely what I want or need. More importantly, it’s just plain fun to get out there. Thirty years ago when it was a more common occurrence, I had far less gear to keep track of. Now it’s almost a full-time job. It just doesn’t feel like one.