Fishing In The Snow Continued...

I apologize for taking so long to get back but the fishing was just so good I couldn't come home. Okay I made that part up. It actually didn't snow at all and it was all sunny and warm.

Maybe we only get one really good shot at flyfishing in a snow storm and I had my day but I will always remember it and be ready to get out there again.

Unfortunately our fishing season ends here on Sept. 15 for most fishing and the middle of Oct. for Salmon in some areas. Then the season doesn't open again until April 15 in most areas here, so it's rare that we ever get to fish in a really snow storm.

Maybe next year.

Fly Fishing in the SNOW, in the middle of MAY.

It is suppose to be getting nicer each day but for some reason we are still not totally out of winter mode and it's the 16th of May today. I love fly fishing but I really can't stand the cold although I have had my best ever days of fishing during a snow storm, so that means I will have to suck it up again and bundle up for a hopefully wild day of fly fishing tomorrow.

I have places I go when it is snowing on opening day of fly fishing season because I like to fish rivers and streams that are feeding or leaving frozen lakes. That is in April, but to do this in May I may have a bit of trouble finding a lake that is still frozen. But I'll give it a try.

I will return tomorrow or the next day and let you know what happened and what I used to make it happen. Good fishing.... Fly fishing that is.

While you're waiting for me to return check out my fly fishing for trout lens on Squidoo.

Fly Fishing For Bass From A Float Tube

Well fishing season here has been open for 3 weeks and it has been cold, very cold here. I'm thinking spring took a break and went south for a few extra weeks this year. But..

... that doesn't stop me from using my fly rod every chance I get.

I like boats and I like wading when fly fishing for trout, salmon, bass or pike and pickerel but my favorite mode of transport for fly fishing in warmer weather is my float tube. The foat tube allows me to get into place you just won't get most boats, or even canoes.

Give me a good pair of chest waders, and a set of flippers for my feet and I will have a great day on the water fishing for anything with fins that swim.

I headed out on Saturday, not too early, as I usually freeze my butt off when I try this too early in the season and I freeze my top half off when it's too early in the morning, so I try to get where I am going early enough but late enough that the sun has had a chance to rise.

I have two float tubes because I really prefer to fish with a friend, it's just a whole lot more fun in my opinion. So I took my good buddy Roland with me. Roland is a friend that begged me to take him fishing and teach him. That was almost 30 years ago and he hasn't looked back.

I used to be one fisher that was out in any weather, rain, sleet, fog, and even snow but I have had some heart problems over the past 4 years that I need to take blood thinners for and man it really plays with my body temperature. I freeze at the slightest breeze so I have to be really prepared or the day becomes a lot less comfortable. And where is the fun in that?

Well on to the days fly fishing for bass.

The spot that we go to fish early season bass is a strip mine that flooded about 50 years ago and was abandoned, but not for long. Years passed and the fishery rangers here decided it might be good to stock that area, now under 5-20 feet of spring fed water, with small mouth bass, and I am so glad they did.

This little area is full of twists and turns that make great ambush spots for bass.

I used to be the one that was always in the water first and the first one to catch a fish, but I have had to slow down abit in the past couple of years. But you know what I get to see a lot more scenery I used to just miss because I was so fanatical about getting in the water and fishing.

Roland on the other had has always been the one to take his time and enjoy what is around him, I should have taken a lesson from him while I was teaching him to fly fish over the years. Maybe my heart would not have exploded. But if you're alive it's never too late to change, and change I did.

So we both got in the water together and that is something I wasn't sure we would ever get to do again. I am truly blessed.

These ponds, or flooded mines have tall hills of shale around with pretty big trees, so the wind doesn't effect me there like it does on open water. It makes for a really hot spot in the summer but at this time of year, when the weather can still be really chilly it is ideal for getting out of the cold wind.

The small mouth bass here are not big, they go between a pound and two pounds but with light equipment they are a blast. The action is fast and furious and makes for a great day of fishing, catching, releasing and a lot of laughing and hollarin'.

One of the great things about float tube fishing is that you are not in the same boat but you can link them together if you want. We will do that at times, when the fishing is going nuts, and at other times we just fishing away from each other.

Well Roland caught the first fish, on the first cast and I didn't even get jealous. I always catch the first fish, but from now on I am a much more relaxed guy. I didn't realize how much pressure I put on myself to do better than anyone around me.

I did have to leave the water a few times during the day to warm my body but I used that time to look around and enjoy what there is to see, like a couple of really big beavers, ducks, deer, even moose. And all this is just five minutes from two big towns and hardly anyone fishes here.

I love float tubes. I have even had people stop on the road side to assist me when they thought my boat had sunk. My float tube is always a conversation starter.