So you think you’ve got it tough? You may recognize these two guys from “Hopalong” Glissmeyer’s earlier posts. If it doesn’t open, paste it in your browser.
Mike! You are hereby certified 100% pure CRAZY!
Ah I love the feeling of frozen nazal hairs in the morning! It feels like…freezing my butt off! Hey good for you two not sitting around in doors no matter hwo cold. Were it not for the bad back I’d be out there too.
So…how was the fishing that day?
Cool piece guys. That looks fun. Congrats on being featured!
The thing young people do. There’s a reason I haven’t lived north of Memphis.
Tuff Stuff guys. I wouldn’t have done that even in the days when I could have. Kudos.
They got me beat. The coldest day I fished, for steelhead, was 18 below when we got on the water before it got light in the morning. When we went inside for lunch it had warmed all the way up to 6 below. After eating, we went back to fishing until nightfall.
It’s wonderful to be outside in the winter. But it can get a bit cold when you fall in!
Those are my boys! Appears the hard-core addiction has been usurped by the young 'uns. I taught both of those guys how to fly fish and now they’re passing me up with flair. I laughed that morning as I drove to work and crossed the lower South Fork and saw the ice floes thick in the current. For those of you who don’t know that was the coldest day of the year hereabouts at a record tying minus 21 degrees F. Last time it was that cold in the Idaho Falls, ID area was in 1956 - the year I was born - :shock:.
They would not have chosen the day, but the film crews were on a schedule and the date was firm - rain, shine, or frozen leaders. The gal that hosts that outdoor segment also wrote an article for the local paper about the experience with photos of the guys. In July other footage that was taken by the Outdoor Idaho PBS film crew will air as part of an Outdoor Idaho program. The guys definitely got their fifteen minutes of fame.
I’ll stick to rehab and fly tying during that kind of cold stuff.
Kelly.
been there, done that and i wont be doing it anymore in the future! too damn cold! 
nice piece on the boys!
Lew,
Spent more than a few days breaking ice from the guides. One morning in late March on a steelhead water in the U.P. of Mich., I was busting alot of ice out of the guides, but it was very doable. I was slowly swinging #6 and #4 hairwing salmon/steelhead patterns through a wide, rather flat pool, when I got a hard take. The line went through the guides pretty smooth (clean them after each swing) and just as the fish started to take line from the reel, there was a loud ping. I was most likely using an 8lb tippet. Anyway, what had happened was that the reel had gotten dipped( a little ) in the river and froze up. Bummer, but it was nice to get some action for my effort. I would do that again! I have never forgotten that particular strike! It was at least 15 yrs. ago! I don’t recall the air temp, but like I said, it was just on this side of doable - for me anyway. LOL!!
Best regards, Dave S.
I lived 147 miles north of Edmonton on a Farm/Ranch. Everything we did in winter Including fishing was done at -20 below or more. Just a normal day to us. Believe it or not you get used to it. Lost a perfectly good flyline to an ice floe on the Athabaska river darn near lost the rod and reel too.
:shock::shock: … ahhhh … NO!
<back to your regularly scheduled program now!!>
That’s probably a good thing
Wow, great to see some Extreme Fly Fishing. Even in my younger days…when the ice arrived the fly rod went on the wall and the fly vise came out
I was at one of our company’s Farm Equipment dealerships just north of Edmonton many years ago, and as I recall it was either late November or early December. I remember the store manager telling me he had gone camping the week before and said they slept in the sleeping bags outside on the ground with no tent. I was pretty young, and maybe a little naive then, but I wondered if he was pulling my leg. ???
But I’ve been other places in Canada in the winter and saw some of the things you guys do outside which makes me cold even thinking about it - and I’m a person that always says “the colder the better”.
That was good to watch. I’m reminded again why I live in South Carolina!
That was some beautiful country tho.
I got so cold one time, I couldn’t get the keys out of my pocket to go home. That was scary!
Be prepared.
There is a reason I live down south. And it ain’t just for the culture and sophistication.
Thanks for the kind comments everyone. As my dad said, we probably wouldn’t have chosen that particular day had we not had the film crew coming from Boise. The fishing was tough considering 90% of the time my flies landed on drifting ice. I had to place my casts with pretty good accuracy to hit the spaces between the ice (which was nearly impossible due to my leader turning into a 12wt shooting head). Needless to say I didn’t have any success but had a great time getting out on such a beautiful day!