OK… It's Spring, Let's Go Fishing!

Today was brutal. It was predicted to be a high of 40 degrees. Balmy right? Unfortunately, this high was achieved for a total of approximately 4 seconds around 1:00 PM. The rest of the time was spent in the face-battering, guide-freezing, finger-numbing realm of what we now call a polar vortex. Previously, in Wyoming, we called it spring.

In any case, I hate that sound of an $80.00 fly line sandpapering over ice-encrusted guides... I hate not being able to tie on a fly because your fingers don't work... I hate not being able to look up because your eyes immediately tear up in 30 mph winds... I hate that achy feeling you get in your knees and hips when you try to fish in sub-freezing temperatures.  

Today, initial blue skies were replaced by snow squalls, which temporarily gave way to dead calm, which morphed into frigid winds and zero visibility. My rod's guides were usually a mess. I would look up my rod to see 8 or 9 big clumps of ice (a clump usually at each guide) that enlarged with each strip. Then the only choice was to dunk my rod into the 33 degree water until I could once again cast. I had forgotten my Pam! My Pam was in our kitchen next to the olive oil and Kosher salt. Big mistake! Without my little aerosol can of fatty spray, I struggled with icy build up… every housewife's worst nightmare. Contending with this gunky mess was a lot of work.

So a big boo-hoo to me right?  Not so fast… after initially struggling with nymphs, I switched to a yellow wooly bugger and railed on 20+ inch browns. I probably tagged 15 and landed 10 in the three hours I fished before my weather totally shut down at 3:00 PM when a snow squall did not end. We call these a blizzard in Wyoming.

How would I categorize my fishing today…. simply superb! Other than having no feeling in my extremities, my only problem was the worry of ripping leaders in half on the thin sheets of ice that lined both banks. I was always in danger of losing a hooked fish to these invisible sheets of ice. On a positive note, these 1/4 inch cleavers provided great perches to take photos of fish.