Its been nearly three weeks since we have seen temps nearing the freezing point. The snow that fell right before Christmas is still lingering in the tops of the trees, and it appears there is no end in sight. There is not a better time to inventory ones fly selection and begin once again to refill the vacant slots in our fly boxes. However, no matter how much I love to tie, every now and then I need to refill my fishing canteen to get me through the rest of the winter. I would prefer to wait for a day that the temps reached into the thirties, but unfortunately I don’t think I can wait that long.

No matter how much layering and preparation for the cold one takes, there are simply some days that are going to freeze you to the bone. This winter I have already experienced a mild case of frostbite in which the top few layers of skin on a few of my finger tips blistered and peeled off after a week of tingling numbing sensations. The good news is they are getting back to normal and despite the ban from fishing when temps are below freezing that my wife tried to implement on me, I will be back out again very soon. I can only go so long without sharing a few moments with the beautiful trout of winter.

There is something very appealing about catching a beautiful trout whose colors are overly enhanced due to the white covered, colorless terrestrial environment we fish in. There are few times when the red stripe of a rainbow, or the blue halo of a brown look so pretty.

Fishing this time of year will surely make bystandards look on a call you the same name as the fly above (one frozen bugger), and think of you as being rightfully out of your mind. I still find much value in warming the fishing spirit when everything else is frozen. Tight lines, and try to stay warm out there!