Forget the Run, I Want the Fishing Coin!

Not much of a fishing report today people because I have not been fishing. I know. Shocking.

January 1st, 2026 and I am starting this blog feeling weird. Not bad weird. Just different weird. Weird because I am sitting here waiting until 11am so I can voluntarily run 3.1 miles in 16-degree weather that feels like 3. Weird because I spent the entire week in the condo working nonstop while somehow accomplishing nothing at the same time and happy about it. Weird because ten years ago I would have been hunting down the biggest New Year’s Eve gig within a 50 mile radius, and now I am perfectly content watching Disney Plus, yes Taylor Swift, eating homemade sourdough pizza, walking down to the ball drop at 11:45pm like a responsible adult and sleeping by 12:30am. So yeah. Weird. But good weird.

Oh crap. This is supposed to be a fishing blog. Sorry Mark.

Let us rewind a little. I was recently informed that my downrigger rods were basically committing crimes and not getting bit like they should. Apparently running 25 pound hi vis mono with a 20 foot fluorocarbon leader is a guaranteed way to murder your slider bite. Who knew. Charlie Daniels and Kaedin stepped in and corrected my sins by adding 100 foot leaders to all four rigger rods. Now listen. I had just respooled those Tekota 700s with fresh mono. That is not cheap or quick. And I am not ripping off hundreds of yards of perfectly good line just because. My typical chute rigger is back 25 to 60 feet. I rarely run a slider with a paddle on the chute. My out and downs are usually higher and back 20 to 40, which still gives me 60 to 80 feet of leader for sliders. If I am deeper, fine, I will deal with it then. Until that moment arrives, I am calling this good enough.

Knife maintenance week happened next. And let me tell you, it was overdue. Soak the knives. Soak the sheaths. Scrub off every ounce of blood and fish slime. Sharpen everything. Then I found stainless steel cleaner and decided my fillet knives deserved to look as good as they cut. One rag to apply. One rag to buff. Pro tip. When buffing a razor sharp blade, don’t buff your finger. It doesn’t take much to create a gusher and texting pictures to Surgeon Jenn for medical advice!

Then came Spoon Organization 101…or Spoon Organization 701 since apparently I am now a graduate student. I brought up an absolute mess from the boat. I try to limit myself to three special mate boxes on the Tiara. Mostly for space. Also because it gives me an excuse to not keep buying more spoons since technically I am out of room.

I laid every box out on the kitchen table and stared at it like a math problem I did not study for. Do you organize by color. By manufacturer. By size. By superstition. This is exactly why I don’t like buying a new spoon line. Oh look…Mr. Chrome works…Guess I need several full cards of Mr. Chrome now!

Here is where I landed. Tall box for standard and mag separated by color. Short box for small spoons: mini Mr. Chrome, mini Moonshine half moons, Dreamweaver SS, regular Yecks like Fireball and Chubster (…and yes Ged, your size numbering system and series names still makes no sense, Y55/Zipper/11/44/55/66/77/88…and your website has the 2014 catalog? I am volunteering to help – this is my way!) So apparently I organize by brand, by size, and by color, all at the same time.

Did everything fit in three boxes? Of course…I doubled them up. Obviously. Two spoons per slot. Sometimes three. This is the fishing equivalent of buying a six pack of tall boys and saying you only had six beers. I even left two empty cards for future expansion. Planning ahead people. Novi fishing show in eight days. Grand Rapids in two months. I am nothing if not prepared.

Still on the fishing to do list: Reorganize plugs with perfectly placed single hooks. One box only. Re-coordinate flasher/fly and flasher/meat rigs and re-tie some with lighter line. Re-leader sixteen leadcore and copper rods with new leaders and smaller swivels. Tie new Dipsy leaders...twenty-five foot leaders worked well last year…what happens if I go with lighter line? More bites? More break-offs? Science will decide and I will find out!

And then there is the holy grail for 2026. Finding myself a lucky legendary Ludington fishing coin. The coin that allegedly attracts tournament winning fish. If I find one of those, it is over and I’ll be winning out this year - FOFF. Big Boy. Legends Thursday. Women’s. Pro Am. All five. Clean sweep. That is elite mojo. Maybe THIS is the reason I didn’t win the 1.8 billion Powerball – I’m gonna get the coin, way better!

Fast forward to Post 5K: First of all, nothing but respect to everyone who ran today. We are all still alive, which was not guaranteed. I was genuinely concerned my lungs might freeze solid. I thought I had clothing dialed in. I did not!

Compression socks plus regular socks. Good. First ever leggings with sweatpants over them were effective but not a lifestyle choice. Camo Nike face thing. Pelagic knit hat. Costa sunglasses. Short sleeve performance shirt. Long sleeve performance shirt. Grunden’s hoodie. Offshore Classic hoodie. That was one hoodie too many. Sorry Adam K, no Grunden’s next year. Earbuds under the face mask blasting Taylor Swift. Matt Helz neon wristbands - Miss you buddy.

Hands were the failure point. Thin New Balance gloves under Carhartt’s worked last year. This year my fingers were numb in five minutes and never recovered. Next year I am going with full-on ice fishing mittens.

Finished the race. Still alive. Beat last year. Took home a third-place plastic thingy. Most importantly, I felt accomplished. Hate the run. Love the finish. Wasn’t then same without Nick and Alison standing at the finish line along with Surgeon Jenn testing her heart rate!

Then the news hit…no Ultimate Salmon Derby in 2026. What. The. Hell. 2025 was my first year in it and it was phenomenal – and I didn’t win anything. It added juice to every single weekend. Massive shout out to Gabe and crew for running that thing like pros. At least we still have Logan, Captain Chucks and the Big King Bonanza holding it down in Ludington.

At this point I am boring myself. Which is my cue to stop.

Happy New Year if you made it this far. I am going to install a shower door and feel productive. If anything blog worthy happens at the Novi Fishing Show, by my definition of course, I will report back.