Spring Dates And Things

As I sit here on February 19^th, working on this column that will print next week … at the end of February, I have high hopes that winter may actually be behind us and spring is knocking on our door. In his famous book, A Sand County Almanac, by Aldo Leopold … he speaks of but a few certainties, one of those being our feathered and migratory friends. Aldo tells us that geese don’t make mistakes and head north too early, for there is nowhere for them to go, meaning they don’t reverse their direction and once again fly south. I was walking my dogs just the other day and could hear the trill of Sandhill Cranes, somewhere up there, too high for me to locate with the naked eye … but they were heading north and that for me was a good sign that we may actually enter into spring a little ahead of schedule.

Spring this year (Vernal Equinox) will arrive here in the northern hemisphere on March 20^th at 7:02am EDT. Now if you are up on your Latin then you know that equinox means ‘equal night’, generally speaking this means that we will have an equal amount of daylight and darkness; 12 hours of both and that feels a lot better than the 7 or 8 hours that we have grown accustomed to?

I am a big fan of the Old Farmer’s Almanac. I find myself able to spend too much time just flipping through it and gawking at the amount of information located there …. if you want a good read, pick up a copy or go online at Almanac.com. You can and will find about every answer you might need about spring, when to plant, weather, etc.. A couple things I always focus in on are the last frost date (April 17) and the length of growing season (181 days) … here in central Indiana. As for the moon; the new moon will be on March 11^th and the Full Worm Moon on March 27^th. One other date of importance is Good Friday and this year it comes early and falls on Friday, March 29^th … so plan accordingly.

Spring for me means several things; one of those is spring turkey hunting. The 2013 turkey season will begin on April 24^th (Wed.) and end on May 12^th (Sunday). To hunt turkey here in Indiana you will need a hunting license as well as a game bird stamp … the license will cost you $25 dollars and the game bird stamp will run you $11 dollars. This year’s youth season turkey hunts will be April 20 and 21 … so please, if you have a youngster you can take turkey hunting, take advantage of getting into the woods a few days ahead of the rest of the group and share this awesome experience with a young hunter that is 17 or younger as of April 20^th. BTW … a youth license cost only $7 dollars and is an incredible bargain, the best money you will spend each year! Some of my very favorite memories of the spring harken me back to the many times that me and my boys walked in search of a spring gobbler.

Another great opportunity for early spring is the planned trout stockings at a couple of local lakes. Based on last year’s numbers (I am going to assume they will be fairly close to this year) the DNR will be releasing rainbow trout into two local lakes; Airline Pit in Greene-Sullivan State Park and Island Pit in Minnehaha. Airline should receive about 700 trout and is one of the clearest lakes you will ever have the privilege of fishing in. Island should receive somewhere between 2200 and 3000 trout and is larger than Airline, giving you more room to spread out. To fish for trout you obviously will need a 2013 fishing license ($17) along with a trout/salmon stamp that will cost you $11 dollars. Trout fishing in these lakes isn’t at all complicated and frankly I have seen everything under the sun being used, from kernels of corn to spin casting lures to myself and a few others that fly fish. From my perspective either lake is perfect for fishing from a float tube with a flyrod. I usually take along two rods; both with sinking line and a myriad of different colors of wooly buggers and various streamers…and in the process I often catch bass, bluegill and crappie along the way. If the weather is right, you will find that floating around in a tube and catching a wide variety of fish is about as good as it gets. If you are looking for access and information to the world of float tubing, there are many posts right here on FlyFishingWithJeff.com. To purchase a float tube, visit PortableKayaks.com where my friend Dennis Hill sells a wide variety of float tubes. My favorite is one of the styles of the ODC 420 made by the Creek Company. You will not find a more durable tube anywhere in the market and with complete packages that will get you in under $300 dollars; that is a pretty cheap boat that you can throw on your back and walk into anywhere you want to fish! In fact you can watch me comparing two versions of the ODC 420. Click here to watch the video.

So … hopefully you are itching to get going just like me, here in southern Indiana we have many options for a way out of the house; get your gear ready, grab your calendar and mark a few dates as we all Enjoy the Great Outdoors.