year recap

With 2015 only hours away we here at Fishwest have had a chance to reflect on a great fishing year but also look forward to the new year and new adventures. Below you will find our thoughts on the year and goals for 2015. Enjoy! Morgan – Fishwest Shop Manager 2014 was a great year for my fly fishing career. I was able to travel to new places, pursue new species and I was even able to catch the largest fish I've ever caught on a fly rod. For 2015 I would like that trend to continue. This year, my focus will be on getting to a saltwater destination for the first time. I love streamer fishing and the thought of a hard fighting, large, predatory fish has got me excited. It was 15 degrees on my drive to work this morning and the idea of shorts and going barefoot in the sand doesn't sound so bad right now. I would also like to make to Montana to see for myself what everyone's raving about. Steelhead are on the list again as well. I've got high hopes for 2015. Richard (AKA Maui Jim) – Web Team / Shop Staff 2014 turned out to be a great year of fishing for me. The goals I set for myself last year were for the most part accomplished, with the exception of landing a striper on the fly. With 2015 knocking on the door it is time to set some new goals for the upcoming year. The biggest goal I have for 2015 will be to get out steelheading for the first time, after hearing stories and seeing photos from co-workers and customers alike steelheading has been creeping its way into my mind. It's not just the chance of catching a large sea run salmonids that intrigues me but the difficulty of bringing these creatures to hand and the destinations you have to travel to that really inspires me to target these fish. Along with that goal would be to continue to target toothy critters on the fly, 2014 was the first year I tried to target Tiger Muskie and Pike at all, and being fortunate enough to have success catching both species on a fly this past year, lets just say I have been hit with the Esox bug, so larger and meaner pike and muskies are definitely on the menu for 2015. JC – Web Team Manager / Shop Staff I had a ton of fun fishing in 2014. Another trip to hang out in the Bahamas and landing my first Tiger Musky amid the countless trout brought to hand had to top the list of personal accomplishments for the year. The thing I enjoyed the most was spending alot of time on the water with the two other jokers who contributed to this article. Any time on the water with "Maui Jim" (aka Richard) and Morgan is bound to be a fun time and full of a lot of laughs. We all collectively spent a ton of money in gas on all these adventures but it was well worth it. Having the chance to be part of the adventure and to see Morgan and Richard both land their first Muskies was pretty dang cool. As for 2015 a personal goal for me has got to be to learn how to use a two handed rod. I cannot emphasize enough how much I would love to swing flies for anadromous fish. I now finally have all tools at my disposal I now just have to put tools together and just get out and do it. Lastly I would honestly like to just keep my goals very simple. Spending a lot of time fishing and sharing the water with new and old friends alike seems like a great way to spend my time. Once again I would like to thank everyone from our faithful readers to our wonderful contributors for making 2014 a success for us here at Fishwest and the Pisciphilia Blog. As long as you guys keep reading we would love to share our stories and insight. From all of us here at Fishwest I would like to wish you a Happy New Year and a wonderful 2015!