I awoke this morning to a lovely 5″ or so of fresh powder covering the ground, with it still coming down here in Southeast PA. Now snow is nothing new, and it sure wont stop me from fishing. In fact, as mentioned before, I prefer it. Snow, Rain – bring it on. The wind and lightning however, stay away.
I had high hopes this morning as knowing there would be no one else out and there would be a good selection of fish that might be willing to finally eat as they become acclimated with their new environment. The roads were sketchy, with most of them still having the untouched 5″ and more of powdery snow on them. I however had zeros issues on the drive to nor from. My 2016 Ford Explorer paired with Continental Winter ContactSI tires have yet to give me a reason to lose confidence in their performance and task at hand.
Arriving at the stream and after getting all geared up I was surprised by a guy stopping and telling me he was just getting done and its pretty much unfishable. He said there was so much ice and slush coming down the waterway that it was near impossible to get a good drift. Being the stubborn fisherman I am, I obviously had to see for myself. I was all geared up anyway, might as well give it a shot.
Some pods of fish were easily spotted as they grouped together in the shallows, just waiting to get picked off by the numerous present herons that frequent the areas. Stupid fish – go deeper!
I gave it about 10 minutes and concluded what I was told, unfortunately the stream conditions just made it not worth trying to fish. Not only could you not get your flies in the zone before ice and slush ruined your drift, but within casts your line was basically a solid tube of ice. I was sad to say the trip and hype this morning was all for nothing. I retreated back to the car and headed home in defeat. PS: This is now outing #4 that the Orvis Pro Waders have seen.
