This is a week from Hades. I have to put everything together for this year’s fishing, and believe me when I tell you that’s no easy task. I’m a big boy so I don’t expect too many people to feel sorry for me. It’s like my friend (a carpenter) said the other day. “Playing with fishin’ lures isn’t work, Mike. What I do is work.”
He’s my friend. I like him a lot. But he’s wrong. It is work when you start with the mess I have and when it’s what you do to earn a living. I’m sort of a pack rat so I tend to keep everything because you never know when you might need it. Becky has threatened to sign me up for that A&E TV show, Hoarders.
I know I’m bad but I really don’t think I’m that bad. I’ve attached a photo of what my garage looks like. You can make your own decision.
This year’s going to be different, however. I’ve always felt that more is better but things are about to change. I’m going to cut back on my packing and on what I carry around the country. It’ll be the new Ike — sort of, anyway.
For openers, I’ll be reducing my rod and reel inventory. For as long as I can remember I’ve carried 32 rod and reel combos. I always felt that anything less just wasn’t enough. This year I’m going to reduce that number to 22. Some of you might still think that’s an awful lot but if you look at it from a percentage point of view you’ll see it’s basically a one-third reduction. That’s a lot.
My lures won’t be spared, either. I like to fish with Berkley Havoc Devil Spears. If you check the Internet you’ll see they come in about 25 colors. There was a time when I wouldn’t have pulled out of the garage without a 100 count bag of each of them. (OK, maybe that’s not technically true. As you can see from the photo I couldn’t pull out of the garage because I couldn’t get into it in the first place. You get the point, though.)
This year I’m going to reduce my inventory to just a handful of the basic colors. If I need something else I’ll make arrangements to get it while I’m on the road. That can be a hassle but it’s no worse than carrying dozens of bags of stuff around that you’re never going to use.
Those are just two examples. I’m going to follow the same plan with everything. The idea is to make myself more efficient and to put myself in a position to fish more competitively. I’d like to win a couple of events this year. This just might be the first step.
Next week we’re going to start a two or three part series that I’m really excited about. The other day a fellow asked me why I chose fishing as a career instead of something else. I’m going to answer that question with brutal honesty.
Mike Iaconelli’s column appears weekly on Bassmaster.com. You can also find him on Facebook and Twitter.
