River Report: In the Eye

If you think of Winter as a hurricane, Saturday was a day that felt like we were smack dab in the eye. The sun was brilliant and the temperature broke 40 degrees. And the first thing I noticed was that the river was open.

I walked down to see it close up. It was open alright, bank to bank. And it was beautiful.

I hurried back to the house and got some work done as quickly as I could, then geared up and went back down to fish. I swear the sun was warm on my back.

The river was open, but, as you might expect, a little high. I fished the same areas as the last trip. I started searching out a way across at one point, but the current was strong and the footing treacherous, so I played it safe again. I was just glad to be in the river at all.

It gave me a chance to swing one of my new flies. Until I hung it up and broke it off.

All this time the wind had been picking up, and dark clouds had rolled in from the south and covered the sun. The last of the blue sky was disappearing in the north. And I had dressed for Spring and was getting a bit chilled.

So instead of tying on a new fly I made the climb over the shelf ice--my exit was more graceful than my entrance--and headed for home.

By the time I got back to the house Winter was back, and within an hour it was snowing. There's a Winter Weather Advisory posted for the next two days.

It was nice while it lasted. We were in the eye of Winter, until Winter came back and hit us in the eye again.