Meandering

Outdoor Resolutions, Anyone?

Sun, January 01, 2012

I’ve never been a big “New Year’s Resolution” sort of guy but back in 2010 some co-workers kicked off the year with a “Biggest Loser” contest complete with the potential for a financial windfall.  Well, being perpetually broke as well as needing to shed some pounds at the time, I opted to “resolve.”  Long story short, I won like $40 (bought my fishing license and a few lures) and dropped 22 pounds in six weeks (currently 33 pounds lighter).  So, I figured I might as well test the willpower again this year with the following handful of outdoor resolutions.

Swim Jig – Based on Jonn Graham’s success with this presentation and a suggestion by a reader (esox lucius) during my Day 4 of Christmas, I need to get with the program.  I am absolutely a creature of habit but the more weapons in the arsenal the better.

Suspending Jerkbait – And here’s yet another weapon that I’ve neglected primarily out of a lack of patience.  However, I just finished reading a Bassmaster article where angling pro, Mike McClelland knocked ‘em dead in 48 degree late winter water (39 degree air temperature).  Of course, I’m also fully aware that there’s a reason he fishes for a living and I often appear to have no clue.

Trapping vacation – I intend to spend more than the roughly seven hours that I was able to spare on the trapline in 2011 by setting aside some vacation time.  My wife has also expressed a desire to tag along and we’ll have our youngest to train as well (I think he’s the one named Zac if I’ve got my kids straight).

More camping – We only went once last year and my then pregnant wife and our son, Jayce, simply had a day visit while I aimed to stay overnight with the two girls.  It turned out that our oldest daughter threw up around 11:00pm and we were all home by midnight.  Why wouldn’t we want to do that more often?

120 – I managed to post118 blog entries for 2011 beginning with “Déjà Vu” on April 5.  While I will have a three month head start in 2012, I’ve also got a little more on my plate this year, so I’m setting my resolution at 120 postings in hopes of achieving a HO.com personal best.  An average of ten per month seems doable; one down, 119 to go, hope you’ll tag along.

Of course all of the stuff involved in the first four resolutions works towards the fifth one, so that’s a plus.  You see, I don’t have much of a filter when it comes to blogging as if something even remotely relevant occurs outdoors or inside my head it usually winds up in a pile of notes and sooner or later will likely show up here.  And whether or not it seems fit to submit for public consumption, at the very least I entertain myself most of the time. Some of these things happen on purpose while others just kind of pop up out of the blue.  Thus, among of the meandering in 2011 we wound up with stuff like cicadas, waxworms, Bigfoot, paraskevidekatriaphobia, Bob Seger, a new arrival, 220 box sets and a Christmas carol.  Selfishly, I’m having a good time but I’d certainly enjoy reading about any resolutions of your own to add as we kick off 2012.  Talk to you later.  Troy

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