Last week was numbingly cold, cold enough for the first time this season to reevaluate what cold really is, that is, at what point does fighting with frozen equipment, body parts and the struggle for warmth break you down to the point of just plopping down in a snow drift and letting yourself succumb to the inexorable forces of cold? It’s much to early for such thoughts, not enough theater yet- the show has just begun!
Besides, there's still plenty of wood- for now...
The good news is that at the tail end of our 8-10 day plunge into the arctic we have snow, nearly a foot fell over the weekend on the valley floor around our place.
The timing of the weather is almost like a redo of last fall so far and while last year wasn’t the greatest precipitation year, it definitely was not the worst and so for now at least, things are looking up.
Looking forward, I see what looks to be a significant looking storm bearing down on the Oregon coast, harbinger of more moisture; which by the middle of the week we will no doubt be shoveling and wallowing around in, cursing the future water reserve with the enthusiasm of a preacher in a house full of whores.
Besides the uptick in summer water now sitting up in the mountains, of more immediate concern to fishing prospects is the condition of the ice and as you would guess, the ice is on and ice fishing is now underway. Every cloud has a silver lining. Now we just need to get through the capitalistic carnage of Christmas so we can get focused.
As long as there's enough wood to last till spring
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I live in MI and the snow just showed up. This is the time I spend tying flies and painting and drawing. Winter makes spring amazing!
Absolutely. I usually don’t get anything done till after the holiday. That’s when I break out the vice and start scheming on next seasons fish. We usually get in a fair amount of ice fishing too. It’s not even close to as much fun as fishing the other three seasons but- it’s fishing. We have Kokanee and small Silvers here that are very tasty and every once in awhile a smaller Pike that goes into the batter fry.