You Know It's Too Cold To Fish When......



Upper Yaphank Lake

 With all of the business of the Thanksgiving holiday I did manage to get an hour or two to do some fishing.  However, with the weather conditions that greeted me upon my arrival at the lake, I questioned the sanity in trying to fish. The day was bright and sunny but the wind was blowing at a constant 20-25mph directly in my face with temps in the low 40's. Now, I must explain, if you don't already know me I'm a bit of a freak of nature.  I love the cold. I routinely shovel snow in nothing more than shorts, a t-shirt, and gloves. I will wade into a river in late March with just water shoes on.  But cold AND wind, that can be a dangerous combination.  Even a deer that has fur and spends all of it's time outdoors knows to get out of the wind to stay warm.  I, however, am not always as smart as a deer and had dressed in my usual shorts and light over-the-head jacket.  But damn it, I had just driven 20 minutes and had the urge to fish and by God that was what I was going to do!  I didn't even reach for the Tenkara rod, it would be useless in that wind. So I decided on my 5 ft ultralight spin outfit and some Mepps spinners (as if I had another choice, it was the only other gear I had in the jeep).  I spent the next hour slowly watching my fingers go numb to the point of not being able to have the use of them and realizing that my urge to urinate was going to win out over my desire for some trout.  And that wind, it was horrible.  On a couple of casts I had to rely on my ninja-like abilities to avoid hooking my own nostril or eyeball.  I have to admit, it was interesting to see lure cast out 30 feet or so come directly back at my head like a boomerang.  With me though, when I know it's time to pack it in I say to myself, OK one last cast and I'm done.  "One last cast" always turns into 10-15 more casts.  On this day, that last cast turned into a 13" brown trout.  With a big grin on my face and a quick release of Mr. Trout I was quickly on my way back to the jeep to warm up.  If this was my last trip for the year (my "last fishing trips for the year" are a lot like my "last cast") then it ended on a good note and I can be happy with that........at least for a short time.



Last Brown Trout for the Year?