It May Be Later Than You Think

(Posted June 1, 2008) 

Holy Esox Batman! I've got 2 1/2  weeks before I leave for Ontario, and I'm not nearly ready! For instance, nothing is packed, I haven't decided which reels will go on which rods, I haven't decided which rods and reels I'm taking, and I haven't even put fresh line on all my reels. On top of that, because of the price of gas, it looks like I will be driving my wife's new Prius, a car that I haven't even measured yet to see if it can handle my rods.

Now before you start laughing at the Prius I can tell you right now that, with the price of gas, I won't be the only one trying to cram all my gear into the little car with hopes of leaving the Suburban at home.

But how ready are you? Got your reservations at your favorite lodge, like Boreal Bay (800-541-5816)? Did you send in your deposit? Do you know how you are going to get there? Are you taking your boat, or renting? How are you going to eat? Hopefully, you've made most of these decisions, and acted on a couple of them. How much time is left? Two months for you? Three weeks for you? You better get cracking before you find yourself in my predicament.

Getting ready wouldn't be too tough, if my job didn't take up most of my time. But like most, I have to do my preparation after hours, or on weekends. Since I'm a lazy old fart, that usually means weekends, and when I say weekends, I mean those short periods between naps. So you can see why 2 1/2 weeks isn't very long.

This year, the gang consists of Jim and Grant, who live in the Twin Cities; Andrew, who will be flying into I-Falls later in the week, plus Heather and myself who are driving from North Carolina. This puts some extra pressure on Jim and Grant because we will depend on them to do everyone's grocery shopping, and because Andrew, so he doesn't have to deal with the ever-changing airline baggage rules, is shipping his fishing gear to Jim. You'd think that after 7 years of making these trips we would have the process fine-tuned, but every year it still feels more like we're herding cats. Jim, Grant, and I should have one day to tie up any loose ends before heading North but beause he has chosen to join us later in the week, Andrew will be on his own.

So, what is there to do? I think that the most important items involve my fishing gear. Yeah, I should probably pack some clothes too, but as long as I have an extra pair of pants and a jacket, I know I can get by. The problem is all of the types of fishing I might be doing. Between Crow Lake, Lake of the Woods, and the nearby portage lakes, I need to be prepared for smallmouth, largemouth, walleye, northern pike, maybe some lake trout, and on the last two days, musky. So first, I need to match rods to reels, then figure out how many of each I want to take. I know I need more than one, but do I need 12? I can probably get away with a half dozen rods, if I take some extra reels. Okay, Let's pretend that's done. Now it's time to reorganize my tackle box again. Why? To be honest, it's because I've bought more stuff since the last time I reorganized. One of my goals this year is to get my tackle box under 40 pounds. It sounds easier than it is. Which lures are you prepared to leave on shore? I've got to have my spinner baits, and my plastics, and the inline spinners and the jerks and the cranks, and the weights, and two pairs of pliers and my forceps, and hey! I'll bet I can just use the sunscreen in the morning and leave the rest in the cabin. That should be half a pound, but make for a shorter road to skin cancer. Rats, that won't work. Any ideas?

Sounds like I'm pretty close to ready, right? Hmm. I think I better get out the old suitcase(s) and ditty bags and see if I can cram everything in the Prius. We can't forget the Bazuka now, can we? Even though I'm not shipping my rods, a hard-sided case is still the best way to carry more than two rods in the car, so I'l need that, and Heather just reminded me that she'll need some space too, preferably next to a window, for both our sakes. Well, I better get off the couch and get to it. I've got less that two weeks to get ready!

Time to feed the dog,

Tom