The winter solstice:

A. The shortest day of the year
B. The longest night of the year
C. The Mayan end of the world
D. Time to plan a fishing trip

Me and Dad at Libby's a few years back

Forget that it is the shortest day of the year or the darkest day. Forget that some think the Mayans predicted that the world will end today. Let's be honest, can you think of a better time to start planning a late-spring fishing trip? Yes, the correct answer is D.  Thoughts of standing in a clear mountain river with the sun warming up the day, eager trout taking your poorly cast fly, enjoying the day with family...you get the idea...warm and idyllic. This seems a lot better than perpetual darkness or the end-time. Come on, you can't have the end-time right before Christmas. You'd never know whether you got the rod or reel, hunting jacket, pocket knife, or SmartWool socks you wanted.

I started planning for the annual fishing trip that my brothers and I take with our dad. OK, it's not always every year, but we try. We are looking for a motel and trying to nail down prospective dates between children graduating from college and work commitments.

brother Jim at Bog River Falls

Last year we fished the West Branch of the Ausable River in New York. It was our first time on the river and we were guided by our cousin Jim Boucher (pronounced Bushey). This was confusing since my brother's name is also Jim (last name Boushie, pronounced Bushey). Hence all fishing stories reference "cousin" Jim and/or "brother" Jim. We had a great time. One reason may have been that we actually caught a fair number of fish. A fair number of fish for us was some fish, any fish. We even caught some smallmouth bass over on Tupper Lake. Pretty astounding for our group.

Dad and cousin Jim on Ausable (real fish)

We hope to catch even more fish this year. We are also hoping brother Kirk can come, that our waders don't leak, that no one's reel breaks, and that only an acceptable number of flies and lures are lost.

I wish you and your families a very merry Christmas and happy, healthy New Year.  Happy days afield.