The calendar says that winter doesn’t arrive until late December. The frost on my windshield and the ice on the edges of the streambank say otherwise.
Cold weather means flies can be tied and deer can be hunted. But it also means that there are aspects to fly fishing that open up to us. Taking advantage of the change in seasons can reveal angles of angling that would otherwise be missed.
Today I share three articles that consider the joy of fly fishing amidst the seasons changing from fall to winter. One has to do with football; another shares why fishing might be better in bad weather; the last is about being thankful for fly fishing.
Click on the title or the image below to read the full post:
Fall: Fly Fishing and/or Football?
A good chunk of anglers enjoy NFL and/or college football. For a certain number of days in the fall this presents a dilemma. Now, this is a dilemma in the least significant sense of the word. It isn’t life or death. It isn’t a question of morality. It is picking between two good things. It is navigating between two pleasant shores. It is football or fly fishing?
3 Reasons for Better Fishing in Bad Weather
Waking up to a morning of wind, rain, or dense fog can cause all but the most intense anglers to roll over for a few more hours in a warm, dry bed. I have neglected these opportunities plenty of times. Although it doesn’t help me in those pre-dawn moments, I can also say that I have had plenty of success on the water in ugly days; perhaps a higher percentage of good days fishing on bad weather days than not. While I can’t prove any of it empirically, there were three things that I feel contributed to my success that day.
I am thankful for the grandeur. I can do a lot of things. I am reasonably intelligent and moderately capable. Still, I am nothing compared to the raging flows of a river. The tide is bigger than me. A mountainside won’t yield to my education or cleverness. All I can do it take it in. All I can do is be a part of it. All I can do is be thankful to the God who created all of it. I am thankful for the blessings of fly fishing.