Despite the fact that we're a week into January, we (Bart, Charlie and myself) were able to get a boat down the river today in search of big browns and steelhead. When we launched Bart's skiff it was a brisk nineteen degrees... four hours later it was in the mid-thirties and absolutely beautiful out. The first half of the float was a lot of shallow water, not the greatest holding water for fish when the water temps are hovering around the freezing mark. By the time we got down to where the river slowed and got a little deeper, the slush and mini-icebergs had caught up to us and it was like we were in the final level of Asteroids, completely surrounded with nowhere to go. We literally could not get a cast through the water without either lining or snagging a chunk of ice. I'm sure we could have waited it out. A lot of times the slush will subside after a couple hours of above-freezing temps. However, we were torn by the thoughts of playoff football and dark beer. We hit the ramp at about 11 AM and encountered our only problem of the day... an ice shelf that varied in thickness from 1-4 inches and stuck out about 15 feet from the shore. After using Bart's Clack as a battering ram, we were able to break away quite a bit of the ice and could safely pull the boat up onto the ice and slide it to Bart's trailer. Piece of cake.
Even though there were no fish to be had (we only fished about half the time we were out there), it was nice to spend one more day in the boat. This insane weather has to end soon. It feels more like April than it does January. As much as I'm OK with it now, if we don't get snow it's going to be one dry Spring. The spring creeks and tributaries will be low and clear and the fishing could be tough. I hate to say it, but bring on the white stuff!
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