Saturday, January 09, 2010

Maybe I should take up ice fishing


The last time I went fishing in below freezing conditions was early in the morning on a day in February 2003 (same day of the Columbia shuttle re-entry disaster). While I was doing OK catching some white bass that morning, I had problems with the tip top guide accumulating ice and then my monofilament line breaking off on casts as it absorbed a little water and then froze. I have an old fishing buddy who grew up in Minnesota and he mentioned fishing through the ice and I thought that was insane.

The past couple of days we have had record low temperatures due to the same bitter cold weather gripping a large portion of the country. Yesterday we had lows in the teens and barely got above freezing. This morning it was 13F! Needless to say I did not head out to the lake or the river to try and catch popsicle bass. I just hope that this cold weather doesn't cause any fish kills on the coast as in years past during long lasting, real cold weather caused the death of lots of speckled trout.

Anyways, I just dumped out the 2 1/2" to 3" thick solid piece of ice from the metal washing tub that serves as the water bowl for my dogs. Hope it thaws out tomorrow.

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