During winter inspiration for me as an angler comes in two forms. I am inspired to tie new, more challenging fly patterns. I am also inspired to look at new places and attempt new adventures. New possibilities are exciting. 

 

Waiting to fish new flies is an act of faith in the unknown. Will it work? Faith in the unknown. Must be something about winter, as this theme pervaded my February 2024 column as well. Fishing in new water offers the very good chance that you won’t catch anything but a cold. After too much ice on our lakes and rivers this winter (my opinion) I would open water fish even if it meant catching a cold was a guarantee.

 

Watching the weather gave me inspiration to try new water with a new fly. All on a day that looked ideal in a “5-day forecast” kind of way. As time crept closer to this day, mumblings of high wind entered the conversation. These warnings then said “dangerously high winds”. Then a rare weather related comment from my youngest daughter Amelia. “The winds we are about to get are something like 5-10% of the tornadoes down South”. Not to be deterred I had new water, a new fly, and Fern really needed to go fishing. If you are one of the few who know her and her love of fishing, you know what kind of whining, bubbling, leaping disaster of a dog she is when left home when her dad is fishing.

 

We launched the boat at the shadiest boat launch I had seen in the last 40 or so boat launches. If you ask me, that means good fishing is about to happen. It is merely a theory, but the evidence is there to support it. As soon as we started out it was apparent that wind would be an issue and with a dusty prairie haze covering the air we sought out calm shores. Traditional fishing equipment would have been challenging. Fly equipment was likely a bad choice. Images of Teddy Roosevelt speaking of “The Man in the Arena” should enter here. 

 

What transpired from the tenacious approach of attacking the wind with a 7-wt rod (an 8-wt was likely a better choice), a Viking Midge streamer, and very specific casting locations yielded what I can only describe as the best smallmouth bass fishing I had seen since my time on Drummond Island that graced these pages last year. I truly enjoyed the time I spent with Fern. I forgot about the small water whitecaps, the cloak of dust, and high winds. Singular focus. It is inspiration that has pushed me to this place and this time. I never needed to look for it because it was there already. It is in new places, new flies, and the distinct feeling that even if you know you can catch fish elsewhere on the same ole’ flies on the same ole’ water, it just might mean more today.