Making the most of fall fishing season

Winter never ends soon enough. It’s hard to tell when spring even starts, and summer seems to get longer every year, but autumn always passes too quickly.

It’s just the middle of October and most of the leaves are already gone. Snow dusts the higher peaks and the prairie is the color of khaki. There’s a nip in the air most mornings.

For those anglers who haven’t yet put their boats in storage or hung up their waders, fishing is excellent. The crowds are gone. The lakes and rivers are as clear as they get.

But there’s an urgency to it that wasn’t there a few weeks ago brought on by the realization that it’s all soon coming to an end. Snow, wind, cold and ice will make those balmy afternoons on the water nothing more than a memory.

As good as the fall fishing is, however, the hunting is even better, and carries with it an even greater urgency. The seemingly endless flocks of geese and ducks crossing the sky will end. The elk have already stopped bugling. In just a few weeks the pronghorn will shed their horns. The five weeks of the general hunting season will pass in a flash.

The pheasants that survived the onslaught of opening weekend will get smarter. The sharptail grouse that were scattered across the prairie in September will bunch up in big flocks and flush out of range, while the dusky grouse will move higher in the mountains.

Sage grouse season has already come and gone. Most of the mourning doves have left.

Soon just being outdoors will take a lot more effort. There will be no more hunting or fishing in a T-shirt. It will be time to get out the pacs and gloves, start dressing in layers, and stock up on hand warmers.

Naps in the sun will be replaced by naps in the pickup with the heater running.

Pretty soon it will be getting dark too early and light too late, each day a little shorter than the day before.

But in the meantime, the weather is delightful, the landscape spectacular, the opportunities plentiful. The smokey haze of summer has vanished, replaced by crisp, clear skies. The water’s too cold for swimming, but perfect for fishing and floating.

The mosquitoes have vanished.

The tourists are gone.

The nights are perfect for sleeping.

Enjoy it while you can.

Autumn always passes too quickly.

Parker Heinlein is at [email protected]