Change of Season, Change of Shoes Blog

Lifestyle, Commercial Fishing

Change of Season, Change of Shoes

XTRATUF | December 06, 2022

IG: @fishandforrest

XTRATUFs are the foundation, and with the change of season - from fishing to gear work and spring to winter - the Insulated Legacy Lace Boot and Legacy Clog are the perfect footings to take me from chilly predawn mornings - frosty nets and frozen fingers- to the warm golden midday sun that has you question whether it’s the same day you woke up to.

Corey standing in front of barrels, wearing her xtratuf boots

Photo: Hope Millham @hopealida

Nets spread in the field remind me of an heirloom quilt. Each repair, splice, and patchwork pieced together through the decades has been meticulously overhauled and mended by a different pair of fisherman’s hands, interweaving old with new, marking another time and story.

Corey fixing a hole in her fishing net Corey sitting in a large old school truck, with her hands on both sides of the steering wheel.

Photo: Hope Millham @hopealida

A close up shot of Corey almost finished fixing the fishing net. A close up of the tool used to fix the holes in the fishing net.

Photos: John Hesselbarth @hesselbarth

This time of year, is the perfect pause.

We’re wiped out, winding down, and looking forward to a break. We swap the excitement and whirlwind of harvesting fish from the sea to painstakingly knit the pieces back together on land. We restore and make whole again. In exchange, we become part of the very same material that’s kept us afloat for generations. Like those before us, knot after knot, mesh to mesh, we leave a piece of us behind in preparation for the coming year.

Corey leaning against a boat that is propped on concrete blocks on land.

Photo: Hope Millham @hopealida