By BILL SCURLOCK
Every year about this time, some of the major outdoor magazines have feature articles on fishing in the winter. The authors are usually shown with fine stringers of lunker bass and talk about things like very little fishing pressure, unseasonably warm weather, and lots of action.
I don’t doubt the word of these fine men, but I have had occasion to fish several lakes and rivers of this area during the cold months, and I haven’t had a nibble yet. I don’t know if it’s me or the fish or the weather, but all I usually bring home from one of these trips is a cold.
This is generally the way it goes. It’s Friday afternoon in January and the temperature is a very warm 60 degrees. Your old fishing buddy comes by to see if you want to go fishing in the morning. Of course you do.
You wake up Saturday morning ready to go and find out that a cold front came through the area while you slept. Its 22 degrees but you can’t back out now, besides that, you’re tough. Going across the lake at 30 mph is the worst thing you’ve ever been through. Your buddy doesn’t seem cold at all so you don’t mention the fact that you’re numb.
After casting a few times, without success, you notice the ice drops pinging on your ferrules and the reel face. Before long, your reel starts acting sluggish from ice building up on the inside, so you start dropping hints about the fish not biting and soon you’re on your way back to the truck.
The feeling starts coming back to your hands and feet as you ride home in the warm truck. Your spirits are rising again and between sniffles you talk about the good time you just had and about going again, but you know that neither of you want to hear about fishing again until May.
Sign seen on fence post: KEEP OUT. Trespassers Will Be Shot At. If Missed, Prosecuted.