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November Shop Life Insights from Chewy

Been a pretty quiet week up on the Missouri. Seems like lots of you kids been getting scared off the water by the  good ole’ reliable winter winds. I really don’t blame you. Wind is one thing, cold temps and freezing precipitation are another. The combination of the three can be unbearable. Fishing has been good however; if you’re one of the lucky ones to find a window of tolerable temps and fishable winds. It’s the time of year most of us start looking forward to spring fishing again, making plans for next year, refilling fly boxes, patching waders and staving off cabin fever at any cost. Not to mention soup, lots of soup. When  I’m not at the shop I get into a pretty loosely regulated routine. Of course it varies day to day but only slightly. I’m a creature of habit, weather dependent albeit.

8:00 a.m.- Alarm goes off. Stay in bed.

10:00 a.m.- Roll out of bed. Coffee with cream and Jamesons’. Fried egg and cheese bagel sandwich. Seinfeld reruns

11:30 a.m.- Put on pants. Heads and lead on 3 dz. hooks. More coffee and Jamesons’.

Noon- Cold pizza & Gatorade. NPR. Tails and flash on hooks. Dayquil & Ibuprofen. More Seinfeld.

1:00 p.m.- Load thermos with Hot Toddy. Wader up. Head to river

1:15 p.m.- Realize I forgot gloves & thermos. Drive back home

1:45 p.m.- Fishing. Swinging Skiddish Smolt, Kreelex, Buggers & Crays. Amex, Sow Bugs, Scuds, Zebras and Ray’s under the bobber*.

3:35 p.m.- Waders leaking. Thermos almost empty. Fish caught. Done.

3:45 p.m.- Canyon Store for Aqua Seal, beer.

4:00 p.m.- Beer. NPR. Soup prep. Tie 6 buggers.

4:30 p.m.- Fall asleep on couch

4:45 p.m.- Spill beer on chest. Wake up. Fresh beer. Soup construction

5:15 p.m.- Tie 1 dz buggers. Jeramiah Johnson on d.v.d.  More Dayquil & Ibuprofen.

5:45 p.m.- The Oasis for social interaction. Beer.

7:00 p.m.- Soup with cheese & crackers. Beer.

7:30 p.m.- Bluegrass Pandora radio. Beer. Fur, feathers, thread & steel.

9:45 p.m.- Finish the 36th streamer. Banjo and Dobroed out. Beer

10:00 p.m.- Emergency wader surgery

10:20 p.m.- Check weather and wind for tomorrow. News on NPR. Hot Toddy

10:30 p.m.-

*Fish have shifted to their winter waters it seems. Slow and low will be two words I’ll be using frequently from now on in reference to where fish and held up. Get used to the color pink too. And hotbeads of course. Unlike my lackadaisical routine winter fishing is pretty reliable and consistent. Find fish. Put fly in front of fish. Catch. Release. Warm up your now frozen fingers. Repeat.

~Cheers, Chewy.