A Mid-Winter Malaise

I don’t know about you, but I am a little tired of our current winter…that being said, I am glad that we are having a winter in comparison to the winter of 2011/2012 when we didn’t actually have much to complain about? Our current winter reminds me more of an old fashioned winter; seems like as a kid I can remember so many  more bad days with 8 mile walks to school, in the snow and of course….uphill both ways! That being said I have hit that point where I am ready for more sun and a few milder days to come our way!

Just last week I watched with keen interests as the prognosticator of all prognostications made his prediction; Punxsutawney Phil was raised by all the cronies in early morning tuxes and top hats to the cheers of a very large crowd…and on this day he didn’t see his shadow! The bottom line is we are supposed to have an early spring or approximately  2 more weeks of winter…that being the case, as you sit down to read this column during the third full week of February, I hope you are looking out upon a nice sunny, early spring day! I marvel at the entire theatrical experience that has wrapped itself around Groundhogs Day…from the movie to the thousands who flock into the small Pennsylvania town, to our many gentlemen all dressed up and ready to pull the varmint out of his comfy home inside the giant tree stump. Regardless of how I feel, I certainly approve on cloudy days in early February when he sees his shadow and brings us an early spring.

February 9^th would be one of those standout winter days. I kept watching all week intently to see if indeed the weather on this second Saturday in the month would be up to its billing and as the day dawned sunny I knew that fishing was a possibility. I quickly started to organize for a day wading one of my favorite sections of a stream not too far from home. I made my way to the Suburban and retrieved my frozen waders as well as my frozen and very stiff wading boots. While I have never had to…I have read how many guys while fishing/camping out west or up in Alaska have to rise from their slumber, make their way down to the stream they are fishing and put their wading boots on in the water! That sounds like a cold way to get the day going…but is evidence that you do what you have to do to fish! By the time I had made some breakfast and tied another lemon shiner…both my waders and boots had thawed and in a few minutes I was buttoned up and heading south with a gorgeous day ahead of me.

I parked, checked my tippet, tied on a size 1 lemon shiner onto my 7’6” 3-weight rod that has helped me land a good many smallmouth through the years…and in a few steps was knee deep in water that was flowing quite forcibly from the weeks run off of snow melt. The water was clear and thus I knew it would be in my best interest to fish upstream…into the pools; if not, going downstream tends to kick up too much debris and once it flows into a pool and garbles it up the fish become pretty spooky.

My third cast had me directly below a good set of riffles with a nice deep pool of about 3 to 4 feet; my third cast was sweeping back at me, across the pool-when bang, there on the other end was a take! I strip set quickly and sharply with my left hand; it is at this point that I am usually in a quandary as to what is on the other end…is it a fish or have I just strip set into a rock, log or other impediment? No question this time as out of the water exploded a chunky 14 inch smallie. I remained tight against the pull of the fish and the force of the current and in a few seconds had lipped my first fish of the day. After a few pictures I eased my trophy back into the water and watched as it immediately disappeared back into the dark, brackish water flowing by my feet.

The air temperature had not yet reached the magical 32 degree mark as my peach colored line had small crystals of ice clinging to it and obstructing its flow in and out of the rod guides. While it is sort of a problem for a fly fishermen…I catch myself in wonder at how beautiful my fly-rod is when held up against the rising sun…the ice crystals look like small diamonds clinging to the olive graphite!

As morning pushed towards mid-day I moved from one pool to the other allowing my yellow fly to drift with the current, bumping and hopping along rocks, earnestly trying to attract the next hungry predator lurking in the frigid water. Now…I would love to throw out some outstanding number but the truth is over the four hours I walked and moved along the stream I caught a total of three nice smallies; all could have been the same fish as they were stocky, very olive and put up a great fight. The walk back to the truck took about 30 minutes and gave me time to reflect upon the great day I just had…as well as reload the last .9 seconds from the IU/ Illinois game earlier that week; one thought was quite painful and the other…well my mid-winter slump felt like it was gone…for a while anyway!

If cabin fever is knocking at your door, get up and get going; grab your fly-rod, camera or walking stick and head out, the remedy for such a malaise is just through the front door…so come and join me as we all Enjoy the Great Outdoors.