The past weekend marked the beginning of the 2017 season. I uncovered the Lund, loaded and inspected all of the safety equipment and got everything ready for the coming season. Part of the preparation is spending some time on each of the lakes and ponds that I will be fishing this season. Mostly to be sure that the boat launch is in good shape and to survey anything that changed since last season.

Every year I try to spend a day with a guide in another part of the country. Because the Forest Service meeting was within driving distance of Knoxville TN I booked a day with Clay Aalders of Smoky Mountain Gillies a fellow Orvis endorsed guide to float one of his local rivers.

I spent the last week traveling to Louisville KY for a meeting of the US Forest Service Region 9 Recreation Resource Advisory Committee. We are the citizen board that recommends changes to fee structures in the various National Forests in the northeast (from Maine to Wisconsin and South to Kentucky. I am the representative of non motorized guides on the committee.