With fall coming up fast (on the calendar anyway), it’s time to start making preparations to get the most out of those precious few months that you can. For outdoorsmen, fall is prime time. It’s the time of year we look forward to for months in advance.
Here in Montana, there is a lot to do in the fall. Streamer fishing, swinging soft hackles, chasing mayflies, and of course hunting season. One of the hardest decisions you can make is what to do with a day off in October: chase fish or chase elk?
Fall can sneak up on you if you aren’t careful, and all your wonderful day dreams can be for naught if you aren’t ready for them. I stay really busy with work, getting outside, and all that. Without some kind of checklist, I would probably be a lost cause. Here’s a few things from my Get Ready For Fall checklist:
- Tie soft hackles. (lots and lots)
- Practice my spey cast. Gonna need it when chucking streamers on the big rivers
- Shoot clays every other week. You’d be surprised how easy it is to lose your touch with a shotgun.
- Air out all the camping gear. Sadly, this summer I didn’t get much chance to use it. But I foresee a couple overnight trips to Yellowstone in my future…
- Pick up a new rain jacket. My current jacket is probably older than I am.
- Tie up a passel of leaders for streamer fishing and swinging flies.
- Find the wool socks in my closet. Nothing beats wool socks on a drizzly, chilly fall day. But my closet is like a black hole. What goes in rarely comes back out.
- Clean and condition all my fly lines. They got pretty dirty earlier this year, and haven’t seen much use since.
- Come up with several believable excuses to get out of work when the fishing is really good. Always good to have.
Now that we’re in the latter half of August, fall seems oh so close. It’ll be here soon enough. Will you be ready?
Photo by Shane Rickert.
