Ice Out!

I don't know if you're aware of this, but it's been the longest Winter in the history of Winters here in Minnesota. The actual Winter wasn't all that bad, but then once Spring was supposed to start, Winter didn't want to give up, so the temps got colder and more and more snow fell, well into April. Just two weeks ago we got something like 17 inches of snow or something like that. I stopped paying attention to the amounts because after a while it just doesn't matter any more.

This is a photo of the Twin Cities during the blizzard of April 14th, 2018.

But then things started to change. After a few days the high temps reached 40, and then after a few more they touched 50, and now for the past few days it's been near or even above 60. Today it got up to 68, and we all thought we had died and gone to heaven. I just got back from Cub, our nearest grocery store, and what were once enormous piles of snow that had been plowed into the back end of the parking lot are now barely over head high. I bet they will be completely melted within a week or two.

You know what else happened today? The ice went out on my favorite local lake. At daybreak this morning there was a thin layer of ice covering the lake, and by the time we looked at it early this afternoon, most of the ice was gone! This is the latest ice-out I can ever remember on this lake, but I've only been fishing it for 13 years or so...

I know this was probably crazy, seeing as how the lake was still covered with ice this morning, but I couldn't control myself - I grabbed a rod and reel and tried to catch my first fish of the year. I flailed away for about 20 minutes with a couple of different colored Wooly Buggers, but no fish were caught or even seen. I did see a handful of Canada geese, a couple of unrecognizable ducks, and a bald eagle flying around, so that was cool. My rod and reel performed flawlessly, which was nice. I had an idea for what is sure to be an awesome new panfish fly, which was awesome. And I didn't fall in and drown, so I would say it was a successful day!

Here are a few photos, but notice none of them contain any fish...

My first look at the lake this afternoon. It was covered in ice this morning!

There are usually a ton of bluegills under this tree, but not yet this year...

Too cold to put the dock in yet, but soon!

By the time I was done fishing, the only ice left was across the lake by the beach.

Lamiglas S-glass 7'6" 5wt and Lamson LP-2 Lite reel. 

The chartreuse Wooly Bugger was not productive today...