It's a guy thing

Arizona Outdoorsman / AZOD

IT’S a GUY THING

By Chip Chipman

I answered the phone on the first ring. It was Susan.

“Is Rich over to your place?”

“No, he isn’t,” I replied.

“He just vanished an hour ago, and I thought he might have walked over to your house.”

“Check all the bathrooms,” I said.

“What?”

“Check the bathrooms. The new Cabela’s catalog came today.”

January is not my favorite month. It’s been a long time since I have been on my favorite trout stream high in the White Mountains of Arizona. Many more weeks remain until the snow and ice will allow me to fish there again.

But there is one thing that makes January exciting to a lot of us avid fisherman-- the arrival of the new Cabela’s Fly Fishing catalog! Soon followed by Orvis, LL Bean, Dan Bailey and more.

All these new catalogs will replace the now worn and dog-eared ones in our downstairs bathroom. The bathroom, by the way, is where all the guys suddenly disappear upon arrival of a new fishing catalog.

It is exciting to go through the catalog, page by page, checking out what’s new and making little check marks next to items of interest. Receiving catalogs in the winter gives me plenty of time to come up with a rationale for why I need another fly rod, even though I have 10.

I get a lot of chuckles in the shirt section. These companies have shirts in many colors. Although new colors are introduced occasionally, more often the color of the shirt is renamed, last years salmon is this year’s berry.

But seeing all the new stuff is just part of the excitement. It conjures up dreams of fishing on a high mountain stream. For some, a robin is a harbinger of spring, but for others and me, it’s the Cabela’s catalog.