As I write this it is January and I am staring at a deadline, with plans today to ice fish with several young kids and a few older ones too. I was up early, enjoying a cup (or three) of coffee while Fern sleeps with her head on my knee. Her and I are probably dreaming of the same thing. Peering off the bow of the boat in Spring with open water, hungry fish, and warmer weather. Writing this just a day ahead of  what the National Weather Service says is “plunging Arctic air” makes me yearn for the days we dream of. 

 

You might think I don’t like the cold. I embrace the cold as something I must cross through in order to do the things I love. For this reason, I will rarely complain of the cold. Dress warm, be prepared, be ok with catching nothing, don’t have preconceived notions of being comfortable, and don’t fall in. Basic rules to live by when fly fishing in winter. 

 

Ice fishing can be cold but innovation has brought us household comforts if you choose to use them. Sometimes I do. Shanties, propane heaters and lanterns,high tech clothing, etc. keeps us from turning into the now infamous internet gif of Jack Nicholson at the end of “The Shining”. 

 

On the river, it is you and the elements. The water is cold, the air colder. The water droplets from the fly line freeze the line guides requiring frequent de-icing. Outside of maybe some expensive wool socks and basic fleece lined pants, you are set up for the elements to wear you down. What some might deem a mental deficiency, I appreciate the elements wearing me down. It lets me know I am alive beyond the heartbeat. My numb fingertips, and then eventually numb toes, tell me I am temporary. I cannot think of a stronger connection to yourself by way of nature. By definition a spiritual experience.

 

Anyone who knows me well enough may say I have trouble focusing because I fixate. On the water fixation gives way to free thought which gives way to fixation. It is an odd thing. Fixating on something that frees your mind, which cycles to fixation again. I don’t understand but then again I don’t have to. There has been nothing else that can give me this time of contemplation yet freedom from the pseudo-reality that is “real-life”. As Henry David Thoreau said “Fishermen (fisherwomen too of course)…and others spending their lives in the fields and woods, have a peculiar sense of a part of nature themselves, are often more in a more favorable mood for observing her”.

 

I am sure as Winter gives way to Spring you will again have more articles from me of banner fishing days and you will know through my words that the fishing is “on”. For the time being you will know that I am constantly cycling back to the fact that it isn’t “on” yet, but it will be, and I can wait.