THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Sunday, January 1, 1995                TAG: 9412290163
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST           PAGE: 19   EDITION: FINAL 
COLUMN: Tight Lines 
SOURCE: Ford Reid 
                                             LENGTH: Medium:   57 lines

A FEW RESOLUTIONS THAT ANGLERS MIGHT CONSIDER THIS NEW YEAR'S

If you made your New Year's resolution last night, you may have broken them by now. But it's not too late to start over. By my rules, there is a 24-hour grace period. Any resolution made by midnight counts.

If your resolutions include quitting smoking, not drinking so much, losing a few pounds and getting more exercise, good for you. Such attempts at self-improvement are commendable, if seldom effective.

But this is a fishing column, and we are concerned with angling resolutions.

Here are a few suggestions:

Resolve to release most of the fish that you catch. This is a good habit assumed by more and more people who fish. Sure, keep one to eat now and then, but resist the temptation to kill fish just so that you can line them up for an impressive picture or graphically demonstrate your superior angling skills.

Furthermore, learn fishing methods that will give released fish a fighting chance. Land them as quickly as possible, handle them gently and get them back in the water as fast as you can.

Resolve to cover up or wear sun screen each time you go fishing.

Skin cancer is no fun and people who spend a lot of time on the water are particularly susceptible to it.

Using sun screen is no fun either. It makes you an oily mess and it is one more thing to worry about, one more thing to cut into your fishing time. But it sure beats having cancers surgically removed.

Resolve to be considerate of other anglers. Do you really enjoy casting over someone's head or muscling your way between two surf casters who are already too close together?

If you do, then maybe you ought to give up fishing and take up ice hockey or some other sport where aggression is the rule.

Remember, too, that we get a lot of beginning surf fishermen on the Outer Banks. Treat them with the kindness and patience that you would like to have been shown when you were just starting in the sport.

Resolve to remember why you fish.

Almost all of us fish because it is fun, because if offers relaxation and a quiet satisfaction. It is not a bad thing to be serious about your hobby unless you get so serious about it that all of the fun is gone.

One way to be reminded of the simple thrill of catching a fish - any fish - is to take a child, or even a adult who hasn't fished much, with you from time to time. If watching someone catch his or her first fish doesn't bring you back to reality, then nothing will.

So, Happy New Year. I hope you catch your limit every time out in 1995 and that all of the fish that you release live to fight again.

Most of all, I hope that you enjoy every minute of your time on the water. by CNB