THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 22, 1995 TAG: 9501190157
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Tight Lines
SOURCE: Ford Reid
LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
There comes a time in the dead of winter when you think that you have finally gotten fishing out of your mind, at least for the moment.
Oh, on a warm and sunny afternoon, such as the few we've had recently, your thoughts might wander to the beach and you might wonder if there could be anything happening at Cape Point.
Stranger things have happened, you know.
Or an article in a magazine, with its glorious pictures of fighting fish coming to the boat, might get you counting your pennies to see if you can scrape up enough for that well-deserved trip to the bonefish flats. Or maybe an early visit to south Florida for a little offshore fishing.
But, generally speaking, you have things under control.
You know and accept that it will be awhile before you again wet a line and you are more or less content with memories of the past year's catch and day dreams about the coming year's triumphs.
Then in the mail arrive the year's first fishing catalogs.
I approach them with great resolve. I put them away, usually under something, so that I can't see them.
I will not be infected with the desire to buy.
I will not compensate for not fishing by purchasing any of the wonderful equipment advertised within the catalogs, no matter how good it looks.
On my best days, that resolve lasts for a few hours.
What would it hurt to take a look, I wonder to myself. Haven't I the willpower to resist?
Besides, it looks like there is some really neat stuff in there.
So I roll up the catalog, tuck it under my arm and slink off to a place where I am not likely to be discovered.
Then, slowly and quietly, I savor each and every page.
Not that there is ever all that much new in any of them.
Let's face it, despite the best efforts of the manufactures and retailers, fishing equipment does not change all that much from year to year.
Yes, there is the possibility of another generation of graphite rods or a reel that will retrieve line just a bit faster. But none of that is all that earth shaking.
That, however, is not the point.
These catalogs are, as Humphrey Bogart said about the Maltese Falcon, ``the stuff that dreams are made of.''
Curled up in front of a fire, you begin to imagine all of the wondrous things that these simple pieces of gear can accomplish. Your mind wanders, as it puts you back in that place, that place where fish are caught.
A new reel, a box full of new lures or a spool of the latest line won't change your life. You know that. And studying a catalog is no substitute for fishing.
But it just might have to do for awhile. by CNB