The new year is starting out pretty busy for me, so I’m glad we enjoyed a nice, quiet holiday season. Things are only gonna get busier, so having some time to relax with family was nice.
Everything went as smoothly as it could possibly go. My fiancé, Prissy, and I went to her parents’ house Christmas Eve and then we went to visit my parents on Christmas Day.
This was the first year without both of my grandparents on my mom’s side, so the mood was a little sad. That’s part of life, but they always wanted us to be together for holidays. Getting everyone under one roof kind of carried on their legacy.
I’ve been trying to eat better lately, but I’m pretty sure I put away several “limits” of Christmas cookies. The good thing is I’m working it off with our home expansion project.
We’ve had three bedrooms and one bathroom for me, Prissy and her daughter for a while now. That’s just not gonna work. So, we’re adding a master bedroom with a private bathroom for us.
I’m helping the carpenters wherever I can so we can get this done quickly. As of early January, we’re looking at mid-month to have it all done.
I really need to make sure we stay on track because it’s time to start finalizing all the details for a new Elite season. We have the bedroom done and really just need to wrap up the bathroom.
My schedule really ramps up after Jan. 1, but once I get within two weeks of going to the first event, I try to spend as much time as I can prepping tackle, getting the truck ready and going fishing as often as possible.
Just like anything, when you first start out, you’re not going to be in shape. You’re not going to be making 1,500 casts a day, so I get out and get on the water as much as I can. Even if it’s just on a pond for an hour, I’ll go just to get in some repetition.
I just need to get the old machine oiled up and ready to go. It seems like it’s a long way away, but it’s a month and we’ll be back in action.
I picked up my new Phoenix 920 Elite on New Year’s Day, but the arctic blast we’ve had slowed down the process of getting all the rigging and prep done. I’ll be on that soon, so I’ll get the break-in period done on my motor, get the electronics dialed in and then get it off to wrap.
One of the things I still need to do is go through all my Falcon rods and figure out what I need for the year. Fortunately, that company is close to me, so I can drive up to Tulsa, walk into Falcon Rods and get what I need.
This year, I’ve going down from a 21-foot boat to a 20-foot boat so that’s going to require some organizational adjustment. But that’s going to be a good thing, because I’ve decided to narrow down my tackle this season.
It seems like in the past, the years where I’ve done well, I only had minimal tackle in the boat. I’m going to get back to that. The way our schedule lines up, I should be able to keep it simple.
Simple should be better this year for me.
