Rats, foiled again…

I had everything ready to go last night.  All the gear was by the door, the fly box was full, and the alarm was set for 5:45am.  I was so excited for this trip to Central Pennsylvania.  I have been looking forward to going trout fishing since January.  It's the only thing that is getting me through all the work that law school throws at you.  The next fishing trip is my carrot at the end of the stick.  It keeps me trudging forward. 

I woke up at a quarter to six this morning to find that Mother Nature was not going to be cooperative today. Our power was out, everything was coated in a thick casing of ice and we lost a few huge limbs from a tree in the front yard. At that point I knew I probably had to scrap my plans of fishing in Central Pennsylvania today. It was a defeating feeling. We got the power back at about 7:30, I thought if the roads and weather radar look OK, I could still go and would have only lost a couple of hours. It might not be ideal, but I may be able to salvage the trip.

It was just not meant to be. According to the Departments of Transportation for both Ohio and Pennsylvania, the highways from here to there are covered with snow and ice. To compound the problems, it is currently snowing over most of the route there and in State College as I write this. It’s not often I scrap plans for a fishing trip because of weather, but sometimes it happens because of safety concerns. I will brave the weather when it is unpleasant, but still safe. Driving through the mountains in this kind of weather is not a good idea. Sadly, I must yield to safety. Here I am wishing I was fishing and making plans to reschedule this trip. I will go… I will.
This was going to be the one day I got to fish, the last day I got to fish, until Spring break. I will have to move some stuff around to reschedule, but I will make it work somehow.

Today, I am one unhappy angler. There is nothing more disappointing then the task of unpacking the car when a trip has been canceled.


Ice all over everything.

Trees and power lines just can't take the weight from all that ice.

Everything is frozen rock solid.

Deep Freeze

It’s been a long winter so far, no open water around here.  Cabin fever is running high.  Most anglers I know have taken to digging holes in the ice and dropping jigs for pan fish.  Ice scares the bejesus out of me, you won't catch me standing on a frozen body of water.


Pretty well locked up

The only fishing I have done since the New Year was about 200 miles away from home in the limestone creeks of Pennsylvania. School has kept me far from any stream. Even if there was a place to fish I haven’t had the time. I made it out once, on a day I didn’t have school, a few weeks back before we got hit by the deep freeze. The air temp was OK, but the river was pretty well iced over. I managed to avoid the skunk by catching a small sucker fish. I guess it was better than nothing.



Itty Bitty Sucker Fish

I have a day off of school next week so I’m planning to head back to PA for a day of trout fishing. I’ve been tying up some flies for that trip. I’ve been getting the gear ready, watching the weather, checking the fishing reports.  I just have to keep my fingers crossed and hope the weather does not take a last minute turn for the worst.  I have this one small window to fish, then that's it until mid-March when I have Spring Break.  I have to make this one count.


Filling the nymph box for the upcoming trout trip