LITTLE SUCCESS
It was a day off. The ice is not on the ponds so it was time to go out. The temperature was about 40 degrees, but the wind was blowing about 30miles per hour. Not the best of times to go, but the opportunity was there. I choose a pond where I knew there are some trees that will block the wind. I can't cast over about 35 feet, but not being blown away will help. No canoe on this trip as it was just too windy to try that.
When I got to the pond I saw that the water was fairly clear. It was cold so I decided to try a yellow boa yarn leech. I also had a hare's ear on the other rod. I made several casts with each rod with several different retrieves, but nothing seemed to be working. This did not surprise me a lot from what I have read.
It seemed that the other side of the pond would be better. The wind was blowing against that side and moving food near the surface in that direction. It will also be significantly cooler on that side of the pond. The need to try there was stronger than the voice saying that you will freeze your behind. The fishing part of my mind says that you can go home and thaw out when the fishing is done.
Five minutes later I am on the other side of the pond, and freezing as the wind comes across the water. I am still going to cast. I finally got some line out and started a retrieve. A very nice gill decided to take the fly. I had to lip this one as I couldn't get my hand around it. I make another cast and a nice crappie took the fly. It was getting much warmer out. I picked up a few more fish over the next few minutes.
Sanity began to take over as my hands started to go numb. If I stayed out much longer I might not be able to get the keys out of my pocket when I get back to the truck. I will admit that the fishing part of the mind was saying, "Why are you leaving when the fish are biting?" The rest of the mind and body was going, "We need to get where it is warm." Finally common sense won out and I headed for the truck.
Hope you can get out on the water.
Rick