The passing of an old year into a new one is often a time that many of us decide to make resolutions for ourselves, to change behaviors, learn new things, or accomplish goals. Why do so many of us fail at keeping these resolutions? Perhaps a big part of it is that we really don't enjoy the act of putting the resolution into practice.
As fly anglers, what resolutions can we make that will not only be enjoyable but also improve our chances of catching more fish? Probably, there are a lot of activities we could do more of, the most obvious going fishing more often! We could also resolve to become better fly tiers, study a little more entomology, or perhaps find someone less fortunate and take them along fishing with us. These are all very good ideas that in the long run, just might help to increase our chances of catching more fish! Personally, I always thought it was a little silly of some folk that claim that they do not care if they catch anything when they fish that somehow the enjoyment of it is solely in whipping a rod back and forth near some water. I know that these fishless times are still enjoyable, but let's face it - if it weren't for the anticipated thrill of fooling a fish into taking our fly, we may as well be thrashing our rods near any old ditch, just for the fun of it.
In North America, fly fishers seems to be mostly a river based sport. Although there are anglers who will flyfish local ponds, and in some areas there are some that will take their rod and cast poppers to bass and pike, for the most part, instruction and information on flyfishing seems to focus on rivers. There is not a lot of material on how to read still water for fly anglers. In Europe on the other hand, flyfishing lakes is a big pastime. It is not uncommon to drift fish from a boat on lakes that hold trout. I once spoke with a member of the Canadian Flyfishing team after they had competed in Ireland and one of his observations was that the North American teams had some difficulties competing against other teams because of this lack of lake flyfishing experience.
The fact of the matter is that there are some fantastic and thrilling opportunities for the flyfisher that wants to take advantage of them and learn a little more about how to be successful lake flyfishers. There are some techniques that you can learn that are sure to make you into a better angler and increase your knowledge. Lakes do not have to belong to the bait or spin fisher. As well, you don't require expensive and high-powered bass boats to take advantage of these opportunities, although they won't hurt either. All you really need is a canoe and a bit of willingness to get out of your comfort zone and learn a little bit about what makes the lake flyfisher successful.
Recently, a great little CD crossed my desk which I think will be very helpful to those of us that want to increase our flyfishing opportunities. You can read my review of Bob Sheedy's Lake Fly Fishing here, and then resolve to spend more time flyfishing in 2000, and broaden your experiences to include bodies of water other than rivers and streams!
The Muncher is a favorite of Ian James for carp, smallies, more. 
Thoughts of a Chicken Rancher. Doc tells it like it is.