Sunday, December 26, 2010

A lovely winter skunking.

The misses wanted to take the kids to the mall today so that they could blow their Christmas money. I didn't feel like dealing with the madhouse that I knew that if would be (and it was) so I decided to drop her off and hit the stream a few miles away.


Having learned my lesson from last time, and with this being a lot more water, I brought the St Croix 5wt with my Martin reel. It's a cheap reel that came with my first combo that I ever had, but it's a great sturdy reel that balances well with the St Croix.

I got to the section of stream that I fished in the fall. That time I was tripping over the trout (literally. I almost stepped on one a few steps in from the bank) but this time not a trout to be seen.

I started at the beginning of the riffles and worked my way upstream to the weed bed. Nothing. Not a nibble, not a sighting. This was so much the opposite as my previous experience here, that I could almost believe that there wasn't a fish for miles.

In fact, the only life that I saw, other than the vehicles on the road, was a pair of ducks slowly making their way downstream.

It started to snow a few minutes after I was in the water, a little at first but then more heavily. Beings that the weatherman was calling for 8-10 inches by tomorrow, I knew that this was just the icing on the cake.

After about an hour, my feet and fingertips had enough, so I packed it in and made my way back to civilization. I was also having gear issues. I've had the guides freeze up more times than I care to count, but this is the first time I had my reel freeze up on me. Maybe I should look into a nice graphite reel for my winter excursions and leave the aluminum Martin at home.

Now that I've made a few trips with no solid takers, I'm beginning to think that maybe I should wait for Spring. But....nah.

2 comments:

  1. Hey, add a "follower" gadget and I'm there! Nice post! Spring will be here soon enough...enjoy the ice on those guides!!!

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  2. Spring is never here soon enough. :) Also looking into the follower gadget, so far all I found in my searchings is a virtual ferret.....?

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