Will skills diminish over the winter?

Sometimes, I fear the passage of time will leave me rusty at executing the skills that are seemingly second nature.

I hadn’t ridden a bicycle in 15 years when I decided one day to buy a bike for fun and exercise. Of course, I hopped on and pedaled as though I’d never been away from the activity. My legs got sore, but that’s another story.

Same thing happened when I rediscovered my old Nikon recently. I had shot miles of Kodachrome but set the camera aside and forgot about photography for many years. Setting up the shutter speed and aperture came back quickly, though the photos were no better than the poorly composed pictures I was known for back in the day. But again, that’s another story.

The story today is that I fear I will forget how to fish.

Our trees still had leaves the last time I made a cast from the deck of my boat. Autumn was in the air and pumpkins were on the porches, but the fish were biting and I finished off 2009 with a dandy 4-pound smallmouth bass.

Seems like eons ago.

Three months and more have passed since I wiped down the boat that final time in ’09 and took the rods and tackle to the basement. The past 13 weeks may very well be the longest time in more than 25 years that I’ve been an idle angler.

Rickety ice and snow too deep to traverse have kept me from jigging for Mosquito walleyes.

Blown-out streams and a busy schedule prevent me from driving to Ohio’s great steelhead streams.

And now, with no football to pass the weekends, I am chomping at the bit to get after the fish I love to catch. Will I be ready? Will I shake the rust quickly or will my casts miss their marks once the water is open and I can prowl the shallows for the first bass and crappies of this new decade.

I’ve begun to suppose that the little details to which I paid a lot of attention when I was fishing a day or two every week will be lost in the shuffle. Will I tie each knot perfectly? Will I remember the best colors in the murky waters I fish? Or will my knot fail because of a sloppy loop. Will the fish fail to see my bait because it does not provide enough contrast to be visible?

These are silly fears, yes? The tactics are ingrained and the instincts are honed. I’ll quickly regain the confidence that put that 4-pound smallie on my line before the mercury plummeted and the snow fell.

It may seem a long time, but the techniques will come back and the rust will be gone in a matter of moments once the boat settles in position on a good-looking spot. That day cannot come soon enough.

Walleye size limit considered

The Ohio Wildlife Council is considering a proposal calling for a 15-inch length limit on walleye, saugers and saugeyes in 16 inland waterways, including nearby West Branch, Tappan and Atwood lakes.

The new limit is intended to improve the age and size of fish in the 16 lakes. Berlin and Milton already have 15-inch size limits. A hearing on all proposed rule changes, including the new size limit, is set for 9 a.m. March 4 at Division of Wildlife’s District One office, 1500 Dublin Road, Columbus.

jack@innismaggiore.com