It has been awhile since I last made a post, the beginning of summer to be exact. Despite my best intentions, life got busy and months came and went. In summary, it was an awesome year of summer and fall fishing, one of the best in years even. Not only did I get to spend some time with friends and family on previously unexplored creeks and streams, but I caught more large fish than I’ve caught in a long time. In fact, I caught my largest fish in almost 20 years of fishing the mighty Provo, the 23” beauty shown below.Now, as a busy holiday season nears its conclusion, I feel fortunate to have had a chance to spend time on the river on the eve of my favorite holiday. It’s true that overall, autumn is my favorite time of year, but as an individual holiday, Christmas is the champ. The gift giving, the lights, finding the perfect tree, being able to play Christmas music for an entire month (especially the Beach Boys), and so on. Really though, what I love most is the spirit that it brings. If you’re not careful though, the spirit of Christmas can get lost in the craziness of the crowds, the traffic jams, the flu season, financial challenges, and work deadlines. Luckily, spending some time in nature can help to keep things in perspective.My favorite thing about cold weather fly fishing is the solitude that is unique to the wilderness during wintertime. Besides fewer people being around, nature just seems quieter and the sound of the water stands out. Many important decisions in my life have been made during the peace and quiet of a day on the river during winter. Compared to the last time I was out, there is now many a redd visible throughout the river system and it was important to be careful where I stepped. I had a blast fishing midges to some nice sized browns on the surface for a couple of hours before switching over to wet flies for the second half of the afternoon.I had many things on my mind and kept fishing until it was dark, and my feet were frozen. This is partly because more things on my mind means it takes more time to clear my mind. It began to snow as I started back to the car and a herd of deer watched silently as I walked. I felt bad for the way their world was changing around them, but was also impressed by their resiliency and ability to adapt to those changes.In recent years I’ve tried to learn to focus on what I can control, rather than worry about what I cannot, and new year’s resolutions are a nice opportunity to practice this mantra. I see it as a chance to adapt and commit (or recommit) to some changes that will improve my life and the lives of those around me. Not generic goals of “working out more” and “eating better,” but simple, meaningful behaviors that can be practiced each and every day until they become good habits. Whatever the process may look like for you, I hope you’ll take the chance to do the same, and that 2020 brings great things. See you next year.