Winter Fishing Volume II

Yes, I realize my previous blog was not titled “Volume I” but we will treat it as such moving forward. I’ve been udder-ly derelict in my blogging duties and for that I apologize (but I wont apologize for the pun). Anyways, it’s been awhile so let’s all have a beverage and catch-up.

I unfortunately finished my time in Massachusetts, but I’d like to think I finished it strong. I ended by traveling up to a northern part of a river I’d fished at a bit in the summer. I wanted to check this place out because it was further up from where I had been and there’s not a lot of rivers like it in, really, the entire state. It’s cold and super clear, one of the few waters I’ve fished that could actually support a wild trout population (I’m determined to find out in the spring).

Knowing my days were numbered in MA and it was a bit of a hike, I made sure it was a group affair – my brother and Myles were along for the ride. The cool non-fishing part about this place is, if you’re willing to walk a bit, a fairly large waterfall. You first notice it with a tiny little stream:

We decided to follow the stream and hopped off the foot trail to track down the waterfall. After a good amount of climbing, we discovered the Niagra of North Central MA:

Pretty dang picturesque, no? It was definitely worth the hike to find this little slice of heaven. Obviously I’ve been focusing on the nature part of the trip because I got skunked. In fact, most of the accessible river was frozen. But a good long hike and a great view helped massage my (continually) bruised ego. And this trip was a great way to cap off my time in MA – hiking is a great way to stay warm in the winter:

I’ve been back in New York for about a month and have been trying to get out about once a week. The biggest (only) positive of being in New York is the rivers are so big and swift that they don’t really freeze (the negatives would include overcast and grey clouds every single day, the yowling cat in the parking lot clearly in heat, and seriously I’ll never take blue skies for granted ever again). Now, to be clear, I haven’t caught any fish here either, but I have an outside shot because both wallies (Walleye) and Northern Pike are fairly active in the winter (I keep telling myself this but I genuinely have no idea if it’s true or not). So I’m hoping on the extremely rare nice days out here I can get a bite in the Susky:

Or perhaps the ‘Nango:

Or where the Tigger and Ozzy meet up:

Woops, sorry, don’t know how that slipped in there. Here’s where the Tigger and Ozzy meet up:

I spent a nice chunk of time at this spot today hoping for a bite but no dice. I don’t mind it too much, having an excuse to be a little more active and getting some (rare) sunlight during the winter is good enough for me. How am I surviving fishing in such frigid conditions? Well, while the cold is biting more than the fish, I’ve been able to maintain stable T-levels by growing a beard fit for the weather:

Clearly, I’ve slipped into a level of delusion that few can replicate. But the point is,

Cast and pray (for spring!),

Jon (not-so-recent picture showing how much Bubz loves the snow below)