Virtually every town in the area has put a notice out to their residents to leave a “pencil sized” stream of cold water flowing until further notice because the frost line has exceeded six feet this year… (the normal is four feet). We’ve been 20 – 30 degrees below normal for the majority of the winter, but next week I can see a return to expected seasonal temperatures which means a thaw is coming. Right now, the frost is set in so deep, and the ice is so thick, that it will take some time before we will see enough open water to fish from a boat locally, but a return to normal temps will be significant spirit lifter.
The greatest potential problem with this kind of quick warm up is the associated floods that accompany it. A few years back the Big Miss went from the water being iced over to water over the banks in about two weeks. This kind of rapid and significant flood really makes it hard to play the big fish bite.
If there is an upside for me, it is the warmer temps which will extend my time in the garage to where I can really get my hands dirty instead of just salivating over the computer... and I’m not talking about porn... I’ve seen some pretty neat things and novel ideas on here and I’m just itching to get out and run with a few of these. However, the downside is the way I can lose track of time out there and I end up only making dinner for the fish and not the wife... (it has happened before and will likely happen again)... I best not forget Valentine’s Day

... just to give me a little more buffer with my errant mind.