Chill Out, Homes

The Crackberry said we had a sweet little warm front moving in, giving us partly sunny skies and 40 degrees. This was confirmed by local meteorologists; so finally there'd be a day where I didn't freeze my behind off or become a prime candidate for frostbite.

The reality was more snow and a high of 27. But, what the heck, it's only ice and snow.

Austin Campbell's Slumpbuster did the trick and close to 20 fish were taken and released (delayed harvest time). Had some pigs hooked, but two knots failed. Can't complain, though, it was a great day.

the best laid plans ...

often go awry. So is the story of fishing in the Southern Appalachians this year. You've heard me piss and moan about the water releases, heavy rainfall, and bitterly cold temps. Now it seems the snow and ice have found us. We're usually fairly well protected on the windward side, adjacent to the valley. But this week it caught up to us. At this time the snow has blown away to leave lovely ice. Fun!

Some of the best fishing I've experienced was in the snow. Since we're not in Minnesota, ice fishing has yet to catch on. The plans were to meet John Dollar at a local DH stream, but he had to cancel. Like that's never happened to me! That's fine, I'll go with my father-in-law. Austin Campbell tied some nice patterns for me with some still in the experimental stage. Well, they'll have to wait too.

I guess we could take the drive to Oak Ridge and fish Bull Run, as suggested by Sean McKay at Smoky Mountain Troutfitters. Then again, I may just stay home and catch up on some housework. Ha!


Griz