Cabin Fever

Everyone knows what it is. At different times for different people cabin fever sets in at some point during the winter. For me, it comes very soon after the cold sets in. The only thing that lets me keep my sanity is looking forward to those breaks in the weather, and each person has their temperature threshold. For some, if the temperature isn't 45 degrees or better they won't go fishing. Others choose to place their cutoff at the freezing barrier, where rod guides start to freeze and make life difficult. For me, 15 degrees is too chilly for sure, if its 20 I may go ice fishing, and in anything over 28 (and sunny) and I will go steelheading.

Looking for the days when the weather pans out is key during the wintertime. People place importance on different elements in the forecast. For me the two most important things to take into account are temperature and barometric pressure. If the instruments measure both of these to be in my favor, I will go fishing.

There is something different about the pull of a steelhead or trout during the wintertime. Something about winter solitude, and braving the elements that makes a fish in the net worth its weight in gold. Kind of reminds me of a day on a river north of here, when my buddy Nick and I were the only souls on the river that day. We carefully walked out onto a piece of shelf ice at a good spot and managed to hook into a steelhead and land two nice browns. It seems that when shelf ice is around the steelhead definitely know how to use it to their advantage. Anyway, here are some pictures from that day to get you through until your next break in the weather...

Thaw

The thaw is coming
It must be true
I'm hoping to find
That chrome and blue

The flowing river
The snowy hills
Just need some trout
To cure my ills

A writhing fish
Of cold tough steel
Thats enough
To get my fill

Once my bobber
Gets submerged
My mind and thoughts
Will soon be purged

Of all the thoughts
That fill my head
Then soon there's one:
It's "Steelhead."

Freezing Guides, Singing Reels

Today I went fishing with two friends, Dane and Kyle. We fished a west Michigan river and we did all right. Between us, we hooked 3 steelies and several trout. Here's the one I landed.


Check that. This is the one Kyle landed, with only bare hands and a Michigan mitt in 35 degree water in below freezing weather. The guy is a trooper. Isn't it funny that nothing on your body is cold when your holding a chrome steelhead?

There are definitely fish in the rivers. I have a hunch that all the west Michigan rivers received a decent amount of chrome with the last high water event. In the next week, I'll be fishing the east side as well, to do some "research."

On a sidenote, I used a switch rod today and thoroughly enjoyed it. Hooked and landed my first steelhead on it as well today. You can get mile-long bobber drifts with that thing...


This blood is probably from a steelhead that was not as lucky as the one we released.


Here's Dane fishing a good lie.

Blizzard Fishing

The past week has been interesting for me. Wintertime fishing. Fishing in sub-zero temperatures means rod guides freezing, ice everywhere actually. Everything from tying knots to walking to the fishing spot takes longer. A week ago I spent an afternoon on a West Michigan river with a friend. We managed to have a great day of fishing on a day that topped out at 31 degrees. Yesterday I fished with my dad, and we managed a couple trout and a steelie, with the snow falling most of the time we were out. Today fishing was a bit tougher, with only one fish being hooked that did the "alligator roll" to evade the net. I've never seen them do this in warm water, but its a good tactic nonetheless. Here's some pics...











































You gotta love wintertime fishin'