When the Sun Sets High in the Sky #99

When we get to this time of year, winter has outlasted its stay with me, and I begin to watch for signs of warmer weather. Among those signs are increasing temps during the day and more daylight. The sun’s rays help to melt the winter snowpack and the streams on I-95 are showing signs of water protruding on top of the ice. When I begin to see any of these, I start to think about spring. Now fishing season still has a few months to go before we can wet a line, and even at the start, there tends to be some impediments, but that being said, preparation is key to hitting the ground running.

As the season begins, I make sure that the canoes are ready to go, the reels are all greased and cleaned and that I have sufficient flies tied to last the year. Typically, I don’t tie flies during the fishing season unless I find something on the water that I don’t have and need to imitate, or if I have run out of certain flies that they are hitting well.

For the last couple of years, TC and I have been working with the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife in their fish/pond documentation program. That is where we keep track of the ponds we fished during the season, the number of fishing people in the party and the number and kinds of fish caught. Biologists send me a book each spring that I record information in and I return it to them at the end of the season. Last year, we spent a lot of time in the northern part of Maine and the year before, we fished the north western part along the Piscataquis county line. This gives the biologists a look at a number of different ponds in different locations. Our plan is to mix it up more this year.

This year will be a bit different in that we have the inaugural year of Vernon’s Guide Service. Already, things are looking good and the calendar is beginning to take shape. However, I have been told that I need to save time for TC and I to do our fishing, and heeding that warning will be important. I can tell you that I have a surprise coming soon. I hope to unveil my business logo within the next month or so. It is in the works right now and my cousin who just happens to be a graphic designer will begin work on it soon. Knowing what he does and what he comes up with, I am looking forward to the final product. It should be fantastic! Of course, I will unveil it in a blog when the time comes.

For now, let the snow start to drop, let the ponds unthaw and warm up as I get ready for another great fishing season. I’ll be documenting my trek on both twitter, email and facebook as well as blogs. So, keep watching for new updates because it won’t be long now!

My next blog will the 100th since I began. What do you think I should write about?