Winter Is Here

The other night it was five below zero up river near La Marche Creek so I guess that’s a good sign fishing is just about done for this season. How ever as the river starts to freeze up a lot of the locals fish the open channels for whitefish. The limit is fifty and they are excellent smoked. The best method for catching them is to attach a maggot onto a nymph and with a big strike indicator. Of course you have to keep the maggots stashed in your lower lip, just like a plug of tobacco to keep them from freezing and with that method not too many get away and they stay fresh.

The snow-pack in the Big Hole River basin is already at 130% above normal. That’s about as much snow as we had the entire winter last year. Things are looking good.

I developed a pretty serious case of carpo-tunnel and I don’t know if it’s from rowing the boat, fly casting or typing this weblog, I think maybe the first one as this is an occupational hazard. Any way it’s a painful little bugger–whining a little bit makes it feel better. I actually postponed my trip to Andros Island for a couple weeks because of it. No way could I cast or pole a skiff, but just thinking about Andros, it feels better already.