Prep

For some reason during the work week, it takes me a good hour to transition from getting out of bed to coherent wakefulness. But on a Sunday, when that alarm goes off at 5 am, even if I've only slept fitfully, I snap to like a soldier at reveille. I do know that, for me, there is a big difference between motivating myself to go fishing alone, and knowing that in 30 minutes someone will be in my driveway, waiting, or at a launch ramp preparing their boat to take me fishing.

In those cases, I'm highly motivated and organized to get dressed, get out of the house with as much of the correct gear as possible. Most of the previous afternoon is spent with gear bags, rod tubes, my reel case, fly boxes, and appropriate chest packs or tackle bags strewn across my living room. Lunch is prepared (and car keys are put in the refrigerator, in with the lunch, so I don't leave it), the coffee maker is set up, or an open coffee shop is identified.

Depending on the situation; be it wading the surf, tubing, or boat fishing, clothes are put out to be yanked on first thing. Shirts are last so I can get as much 50 SPF sunscreen on my bald head, neck and arms as is appropriate. Not so easy when it's 60 degrees inside my place, dark outside, and the sunscreen is cold and thick. But if it isn't now, it's likely to be never, and that's not a good thing for a bald Scots/German like myself.

Finding something I can chew and swallow at 5 am is not easy. I'm not really a breakfast person, and at what amounts to the middle of the night, it's even harder. An old-fashioned from the coffee shop is usually about all I can stomach until I've been fishing for a while. Coffee is black, and either small enough to finish before the boat launches, or large enough to leave in the car and resume after the fishing is over. It's pretty nasty most of the time, but, I usually still finish it on the drive home.

Lunch usually consists of stuff you can eat by the handful, or something that will fit in a convenient pocket, so I can stuff some in my mouth while I'm waiting for my line to sink to the desired depth. Cliff or Lara bars are great fishing food, trail mixes, and my favorite; a baggie of cubed cheese and hard salami. If it's going to be a kelp-fishing epic, I'll pack a proper sandwich and chips, plus snacks because those trips can go 11 hours from launch to landing. Conversely, a surf fishing trip will be over before I'd normally eat breakfast, so I just grab a burrito on the way home.

Hauling gear can be anything from grabbing a rod and reel combo, a chest pack and bolting out the door, to pre-loading the car with my float tube, fins and pump, stacking gear by the door, and almost filling my car with tubing paraphernalia, wading gear, tackle, clothes, food, and water. It's broken down to ritual now, and if someone's waiting in the driveway it's a one-load rubbermaid overflowing with the day's needs. Either way, reducing prep time is the goal, and I've even considered driving the 20-odd miles to Barrett, in full waders, but haven't gotten to that point yet. Yet.

Once in the car, gear stowed, I can enjoy the pre-fishing conversation, or the long, lone drive to the lake or ramp, coffee and doughnut, perhaps some Wilco, or Tom Waits and anticipate the coming catch.