Be sure to make a list


Today’s hustle-and-bustle world almost mandates to-do lists. What do we need to pick up at the store? What must we accomplish Saturday? What are the priorities each day at work?

It’s easy to forget. So we write lists. They help ensure we buy, accomplish and achieve all that is necessary to make the shopping trip, weekend and job productive. They help us plan our time to maximize our results.

I’ve got another list, too, the one I keep as a reminder about — what else? — fishing objectives in the near-term future. It’s a list of things I need and want to accomplish before the snow flies and the boat is back in storage.

No doubt my fishing would be fun without my list. But “fun” is only a part of the reason I fish. Many fishermen realize that unless we focus on continuous learning, our angling horizons are way too predictable.

New goals help stretch the horizon. They help make each trip fun, in a context that extends beyond the visceral glee of catching a few fish.

Setting and achieving goals adds a knowledge-building component to each trip and each season, the rewards of which only add to our enjoyment of the sport.

It’s easy to get caught up in the day and the immediate agenda of getting a couple of fish to the boat, and forget about making progress that will pay dividends in the future. There is much to learn about fishing and your favorite species, regardless of your level of experience.

Here’s my list:

Learn new water: OK, I am not the most adventurous of anglers. I’d like to learn new waters like those that flow through the Amazon and grow peacock bass to tackle-smashing sizes. But I am pragmatic. I’ve still got new lakes to explore near Youngstown. The lessons I learn on new water add to my overall skills and experience.

Better use my electronic aids: As sonar and GPS have become better in the past 10 years, they are much more than depth-finding and navigation tools. I need to up my knowledge about my boat’s sonar to better interpret the messages it sends about bottom composition and how the fish relate.

Get comfortable over deep water: In my typical days on the water, I can touch the bottom with my rod tip. Sure, lots of bass live in the flooded bushes and trees that extend from the bank. But I need to extend my comfort zone out to the ledges and other structure, which goes hand-in-hand with the electronics goal just mentioned.

Catch fish on swimbaits: Once known only as a category of lures that produced giant largemouth bass in California, swimbaits are showing up more and more in tackle boxes here in our region. The reason is they catch fish, not just the trout-eating behemoth bass on the West Coast, but also on waters elsewhere in the U.S. To ignore them may mean I’ll miss opportunities to upgrade the numbers and size of the fish I catch here.

Put steelhead on my calendar: I’ve dabbled at steelhead fishing in Lake Erie tributaries. The action is amazing. I love the warm-weather season and plucking bass from my favorite lakes. But steelheading is the perfect way to extend my season past Thanksgiving and make late fall and winter weekends more about fishing and less about being a couch potato.

It’s still June (though barely), and I’ve got time to check off the goals on my list. Overall, I want to wrap up 2008 as a better angler than I was when the season began.

So make a list for yourself. What do you want to accomplish before you stow your gear until 2009?

jwwollitz@aol.com

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