It's still winter, but I'm getting ready to fish

I really love reading stories about people who get out fly fishing in the winter.  I wish I had the time to do that, but my passion to teaching skiing pretty much eats up all of my spare time in the winter.

But, I'm tying flies - mostly still working on woolly buggers.  I ordered some Muddler Minnows from a guide I've fished with a couple years ago.

I also bought a sling pack from Orvis at a great closeout price.  I've wanted to try fishing with a pack rather than a vest for a while, but the cost seemed too prohibitive.  I got an Orvis gift certificate for Christmas and they had great closeout prices on their packs.  I guessed correctly that they were in the process of unveiling a new line of packs, but I'm fine starting with the old line.

The Fly Fishing Film Tour and the Otter Creek Classic are on my mind already.

And, I've been working on a list of flies I need to either tie or buy for the upcoming season.  Amazingly, the list contains about 200 flies, split over 15 or so patterns.  Those 15 or so patterns make up 90% of what I use for wet flies here in VT.  Considering that I caught fewer than 15 fish on dries last year in VT, I don't really need to do much tying or buying in that department.

Oh yeah

My birthday was last week, and my wife got me one of those fly fishing tools that I'd love have, but would never be able to justify buying on my own.  I haven't actually ordered it yet, so I don't know what color I'll get.  Essentially it's an Abel hemostat/pliers hybrid that I can use when tying flies to pinch down barbs and then on the water to unhook fish.

Not enough time, but I'm getting some flies tied

I wish I was getting more flies tied, but I just never seem to have enough time.  My first goal for the winter is 90 woolly buggers 10 each in white, olive and black/grizzly, in sizes 4, 6 and 8.  This the start of the size 4 batch - the easiest of the bunch to tie.  I guarantee the white size 4 buggers will be on my line on the opening day of the season in the Otter Creek Classic.