Outdoor Tip- Warm Feet in Waders

Ok, this is a quick tip.  Winter is upon us, and for some, the fishing isn't over.  We're always looking for excuses to get on the water, but deep snow and cold can be limiting factors.  Extremities, especially our feet, are hard to keep warm, especially when we're going to be standing in freezing cold water.  I've seen neoprene socks on sale by various manufacturers but they seem to be fairly expensive, and instead what I've done is cut the neoprene booties off an old pair of waders and wear them inside my current booties.  It helps that the booties on my current waders are a little over-sized, and your wading boots definitely need to be about two sizes too big.  I purposely buy them that large to accommodate winter fishing.  I wear one layer of wool socks, then the cut-off neoprene booties and then slip on my waders.  So far my feet have stayed toasty warm even when the ice is piling up in my guides.  If you have an old leaky pair of stocking foot waders give this a try before you spend money on something fancy or worse, stay home.  If you don't have an old pair, I'm willing to bet one of your fly fishing buds has a pair laying around- we frequently keep them as an emergency spare (why? if they leak?) or as patch material for our current waders.

Try this tip out- you'll be surprised at how well it works.  JT/FR

Oh yeah, those finger-less wool gloves that sell for about five bucks are your other best friend out there.  Warm when wet, cheap, and they still allow you to use your finger tips.  OK, I'm done.

Frieze

The dead eye of a salmon stares up at me, as if to say "I've served my purpose here, what's yours?"

The answer is, I don't know.  I've fished this spot a lot lately, as it's some of the only ice-free water nearby, but the water is so low and clear as to nearly rule out the possibility of it holding steelhead, or at least where they would be reachable.

The sky and landscape are monotone and monolithic, carved from a single piece of gray flowing stone.  Even the cedars have muted their green, embarrassed to show their color when everything else is so dull. The wind is calm and even the river flows in muted tones, as if sound could break this sculpture.

I don't know why I've come back again, what my purpose is.  Maybe it's just to cast.  It's certainly not for the exercise.  The fishing has been slow.  I wade in, aiming for the only piece of dark water around.  After a few casts my line zips sideways and I'm tight into a small rainbow.  The water temperature must be perfect, as this little fish actually puts up a struggle against the 8 weight I'm using for steelhead.   The fish races back and forth, jumping repeatedly before finally coming to me.  I admire it, snapping a couple photos before releasing it.  Grow up, buddy.

I stop at the next dark pool, and on the first cast my line again zips tight, there's another merry go-round, and this time a small brown is landed, carefully recorded digitally and sent on his way.  There's a cold spot on my left leg- I really hope my waders aren't leaking.  That could make for a long winter.  I'm surprised by movement and a greeting from the bank.  My vehicle is the only one here, but another angler hails me with the usual "Any luck?".
As I answer, my line comes tight with a serious weight, and a long silver flash.  A few head shakes and it's off, and like any dedicated fisherman, my new companion groans audibly from the bank.  On my next cast, the line comes tight again, and this time we're off to the races.

It's not a huge fish, perhaps 22 inches, but very hot, porpoising and tail walking all over the place.  It zips downstream, and then disaster-  the line I had stripped in my hand wraps around the tools on my lanyard.  The fish continues it's frantic fight as I frantically fight to untangle what is a rather complex knot.  After some tense seconds I work it out and play the fish again.  As I grab the leader the fish- a very fat and energetic young steelhead- starts to roll, and out pops the hook.  Oh well, I was going to release it anyways.  My friend of the moment shoots the breeze for a couple of minutes before wandering on.

I fish for another hour, landing one more small fish, but the light is failing and I'm having a tough time reading my line.  The landscape, sky and river are starting to merge back together.  It will take the sunrise to sculpt them again.

Monday Morning Coffee- December 19

Oh, do I have to get up?  I guess we all do, it's a new week. Hi-dilly ho-dilly.  In case you haven't noticed, I took a week off while I worked on other things.  I did get out and fish several times, with mixed success.  One day I caught about twenty fish, including eight that were 12-20 inches, the next day I caught 2 little dinkers.  The fishing can be hot or cold this time of year.  I didn't get any pictures as it was raining quite a bit, and the dry bag I store my camera in has developed several bad leaks.  I don't know if any of you keep track of it, but the Jealousy Counter to the right has crept up steadily- I'll come close to 100 outings this year.  I'll have to do a favorite trips/year in review post maybe.

I know everyone is distracted by the holidays, but I'll try to get a couple of posts up this week- I'll be conducting an interview of a Michigan artist and post that, and I have an overdue gear review coming out too.

Other than that, there's not much to report.  Winter has definitely been delayed around here.  We have almost no snow (we should have a foot or two), temps were in the 40's last week, it's 40 right now.  Who says global warming is a bad thing?  I feel a little bad for local businesses- the ski resorts are unable to open, and the snowmobile trails are bare.  La Nina hasn't been kind to us so far.  The flip side, is that fishing has been tolerable, and so I've gotten out on a regular basis, even if it's just for an hour or two.  (Correction- I see that some of the ski resorts are open.  The miracle of snow making.  Last week when it was so warm, you could see through their base, but they must have burned the midnight oil when we it was cold Friday and Saturday.)

Well, it's time to get something done- have a great week!

The Angler's Year- December

"Winter Storm to Intensify as it Heads Northeast!"

this time last year

So goes the headline.  Good for them I say.  Let them have a rah rah start to the season.  I live in a snow zone, and at this writing (Dec. 2011) we are curiously lacking in snow.  Mind you, snow has been leaking steadily from the sky for two days, as if someone forgot to shut the clouds off, and it's slowly drizzling down while still failing to cover anything.  Normally, we'd have at least a foot by now if not two, so I'm not complaining.  I'm looking around my yard to make sure nothing is out that I don't want buried til spring, checking the bed of my truck to be sure I don't lose any tools (or gear) to the ice and snow.

I try to be upbeat about the fishing opportunities found each month, they are to be had.  But when December comes, there's no pretending anymore.  The cold is here, and it wants to eat your heart.  There are no good days anymore, just the encroaching cold and darkness, short days, the icy grip of the longest season.  December is as bad as it gets.  Here in Michigan, a lot of streams are closed until the end of April, the fish have gone dormant anyways, and the weather is typically horrid- cold, windy, lots of snow.  By the end of the month the ice fishermen will be out in force, which doesn't bode well for the fly fishing prospects.

I am, of course, a fear mongering hypocrite.  After all, I've fished six of the last eight days, and caught a couple of small (baby) steelhead, and a bunch of decent trout.  All on egg patterns while fishing for steelhead.  If you ask me, the first two weeks of December seem to be just as good as the November fishing, but it depends on how cold it gets, how fast.   This year, it has been unseasonably warm.  I may yet catch my chrome siren.

oh sweet siren, how I love thee...

I've had my chances and haven't done my part.  I've hooked up on at least three good steelhead so far this month, and each has come unpinned in the first couple of head shakes.  I lost five in one day last December.  Or to be more accurate, five in two hours.  I'm feeling a little snake bit on the fall steelies.   Why do I tend to hook up on spring fish and not fall fish?  I'm fishing the same patterns.  I think I'm doing the same things.  Or am I?

Perhaps, perhaps I'm sabotaging myself, as sub-consciously I surrender to this most amorphous of seasons, like being devoured by a jellyfish,  its tentacles drawing me deeper into catatonic lethargy.  It would be very easy to just hibernate right now.  To sleep, just sleep, and dream of warmer, happier times.  I remember things- green scents, the whine of mosquitoes.  I remember warm sand on my feet.  I remember rising trout, and tailing carp.  I remember wearing a t-shirt outside, all day.  I remember clear blue skies, with those high, comma shaped clouds, like Nike swooshes visiting from another realm.  When was that?  Oh well, sleep is good.

remember these days?

All that is gone, and until then we have to survive.  And we will, we always do.  Most of you are so caught up in the holiday season, that fishing is an afterthought anyways.  When we get a break, we'll read our favorite magazines, books, and blogs.  This is the time of year we start to get serious about fly tying.  My tying desk is a mess right now, with too many materials packed into too little space.  I'll have to do something about that.  Maybe after I get some more fishing in.  I'm going to make it a point to watch as many videos online as possible, learn some new techniques, new patterns, broaden my tying horizons.

There's a couple of warmer days coming up, so hopefully I'll get back out there.  My favorite steelhead river freezes up so solid that the locals ice fish for them.  The other rivers develop extensive shelf ice, making the fishing challenging to impossible.  When that happens, I'll sit down at my vise, and start plotting for the time when the rivers flow free, the mayflies hatch, and the trout look up.

a fate I can live with

I had thought of including a winter to-do list here, but I don't think I can do any better than Alex Cerveniak.  In addition to his own blog, he now  is running jaysoutdoornews.com.  This post has an exhaustive rundown of what you need to do before next season.