The Hard Yards

Look there’s a few reasons I haven’t blogged recently:

1) I was sick (I had the sniffles, not the you-know-what).

2) Turns out winter fishing in the icebox of North Central Massachusetts ain’t exactly easy…

When I first arrived back home from NY I was full of hope and holiday cheer, ready to catch plenty of fish in what looked to be a nice and mild winter. Nothing was frozen, the air was cool and crisp, the skies blue – it was clear Gaia was smiling upon me. I was eager to apply my ever-increasing fishing knowledge to my favorite local spots back home after a long fall catching monsters in New York. You can’t really blame me for the optimism either, this is literally what I came home to:

A fresh running brook with cool waters, I was eager to see if I could find something in here that wasn’t active during the summer (ie, brook trout). I made a few casts my first day back with no luck but wasn’t worried, I clearly had plenty of time. Well, flash forward one week later and it became this:

Aaand let’s jump ahead just one more week:

Clearly, that isn’t exactly fishable. It seems Old Man Winter took offense to my plans and brought forth a reality check that only the upper most regions of Worcester County can provide. Local brooks stood little chance of staying accessible, so I immediately turned to some of my favorite ponds. “There’s no way water like that freezes so quickly, that’s a lot of gallons!”, exclaimed my big dumb brain (my brain is big simply because I have a big head and something has to fill it. It’s a family trait on my dad’s side – the extra grey matter doesn’t provide much). So I drove down to a spot I had a lot of success at this past summer and was greeted with this:

What the heck?!?!?! I honestly thought it took like a month of freezing temps before ponds and lakes froze, but APPARENTLY it takes like a week tops before you find yourself casting a lure and watching it skid across the surface (this actually happened, there was a little bit of water on top of ice at one spot so I thought it wasn’t frozen… it was frozen). Now to be fair, due to a very brief but warm Christmas day I did have a few chances where the ponds thawed enough to do some casting but it has been fleeting. It seemed ponds/lakes were, for the most part, out too.

My next desperate thought was I needed to replicate the big rivers (such as the Susky) in New York that didn’t freeze at all. The only one I could think of is the Connecticut River, so I scouted out the river with google earth and found a spot that seemed to provide decent access. I even invited my buddy Myles to meet me because I wanted to show him some badass fish like a Walleye or Pike. Well… turns out big rivers, if they are slow enough, freeze too. In fact, here is the only spot of the river that wasn’t frozen:

Not only was the rest frozen, but as you can tell the banks were literally 20 foot sheer drops where we were so fishing was completely out of the question. Myles, who barely wanted to be there and didn’t even bother bringing a fishing rod, sensed this and came prepared. So luckily, despite yet another set back, we were able to enjoy ourselves:

So you might think at this point I’d give up and start writing ridiculous blogs about how my dog doesn’t sit still for pictures or something, but I swear I didn’t (but also please read my previous blog, What to Do When Your Dog is Handsome AF But Can’t Sit Still). Instead, I put my thinking cap on to decide what kind of waters would be fishable for the next few weeks or so before I headed back to New York. Ponds and lakes weren’t big enough, the biggest river was too slow, brooks were fast enough but too small….

Eureka! I finally realized my best bets for the rest of my time here were at the smaller rivers in the area. The combination of moving water, just enough size, and at least some depth provided the most robust fishing waters to the low temperatures. Tommy and I had fished a few of these a bit over the summer but I’ve found there is a lot more meat on the bone if you’re willing to walk a bit. So I’ve decided for the rest of my time here to explore new spots along these rivers and see if I can find a fish willing to bite. Thus far I’ve been to some familiar spots like this:

And this:

But I’ve also been scouting harder to reach spots such as this:

And this:

My goal has become, apart from actually catching a fish, to build up a catalogue of spots I can hopefully use during the spring when the water warms up and the fish get a little more active (I think I’m just gonna travel back to MA for a week and not tell anyone at school – literally no one will notice/care). I’m finding a lot of really cool areas that I would have never bothered with had my usual spots not been covered in ice (it’s also kept me active during the winter – I’m discovering a light weight but warm jacket and good boots can really help change your attitude about being outside during these months).

Even with the above parenthetical aside in mind, this ain’t exactly a picnic. This winter sojourn has taken a physical toll on me. Like I mentioned, I entered it with a twinkle in my eye, a skip in my step, etc. I arrived in Mass at an all time high after catching a Walleye, here I am just a couple of weeks before heading home:

Not to brag, but I’d call the guy in that picture a reasonable human being – someone you could imagine having a functional role in society (notice how low I set the bar). But after roughly six weeks of all guts and no glory, I’ve begun to deteriorate physically:

Clearly, nothing comes without sacrifice. My time spent out in the woods has forced me to transition to a homeless sasquatch (sam-squanch for those in the know). But if you want to be known as the preeminent fisherman in all of North Central Mass, you have to put in the hard yards. I’m hoping staying in the fishing game despite limited chance of landing anything will pay off with a better understanding of these woods and more success in the spring and summer months. Until then, I’m going to….

Cast and pray (for the next few months I suggest going for walks, this life isn’t easy),

Jon (obligatory photo of Bubz below)