One Nation, Under God

A Solution to Winter woes

I long for spring.

So I’m buying into the concept of a meteorological spring. It started March 1.

I was an easy convert. The spring I’ve always known won’t start for another three weeks.

By now I’ve had my fill of shoveling snow, fighting bitter winds, and waking up in the dark.

Open water, warm breezes and budding trees fill my dreams.

I got a taste a couple of weeks ago on the Bighorn where I met an old friend for a little fishing. We camped out two nights and spent a day floating the river.

A tailwater fishery, the Bighorn flows fast and clear when most of the other rivers in the state are covered with ice.

Not surprisingly, even in the middle of February, ours wasn’t the only boat on the river. Rounding a bend shortly after we’d put in, we came upon a flotilla of guide boats and had to start dodging anglers, a common occurrence on the Bighorn in the warmer months, but a bit unexpected in the middle of the winter.

We dropped anchor and had a bite to eat. Soon the other boats moved on, and we had the river, or at least this stretch, to ourselves.

Steve worked the tail of a run downstream and was quickly into fish. I had less ambition and sat in the boat, enjoying the warm sun on my face and the sound of all the geese that make the Bighorn their home.

Eventually, however, I tied on a weighted wooly bugger, made a cast, and watched the line swing with the current.

Nothing.

I raised the rod, and the line went taut, but it wasn’t moving.

“Great,” I thought, “I’m already hung up on the bottom.”

Then the bottom began to move and I could feel the heft of a good fish.

Steve saw the bend in my rod and waded over, netting the 21-inch rainbow for me following a short fight.

For the rest of the day we slowly worked our way downstream, staying well behind the other anglers. We anchored at likely looking spots where we got out and waded, losing more fish than we caught.

We arrived back at camp at dusk, tired and chilled from a day on and in the water.

I drove home the next day and reluctantly returned to winter, spring still more than a month away.

Then I heard about this meteorological spring thing and I’m all on board. It’s about time. Don’t you think?

Parker Heinlein is at

[email protected]

 

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