New Year’s resolutions are an annual ritual for many. You know the drill, on or about December 31 we make commitments to ourselves to eliminate our vices, accomplish a long dreamed of fete, reacquaint with family and friends, or something similar along those lines. By February 1 we’ve forgotten all about it.

It was 8am when we motored away from Jug’s Landing, the thermometer approaching 40 degrees and rising, not bad for December 11. We would pass slowly through the canal until reaching the massive iron flood gates that could close solid in a hurricane.

Brook trout are undeniably the most beautiful freshwater fish, period. The fish’s back is olive -green with yellow spots and along the top, the spots stretch in a worm-like pattern mimicking the flow of water through their natal stream.

Recently, we bought a 90 year-old lake house in the north woods of Wisconsin. It was built in 1937 by a man from Chicago in the carpet business.