Happy Birthday?

The roughfisher celebrates another birthday today. I'm old enough to be able feel the aches and pains associated with getting up in the morning that I didn't notice in my 20's, even after a bout of socially fueled binge drinking, but still young enough where I don't need to hear the snap of the glove during a physical examination. The present waiting for me when I awoke this morning? Over 6" of fresh snow.

The region has officially had the snowiest December on record, logging over 30" of snow this month. Typically the our region will average between 40-45" inches of snow for the season. That may not seem like much to you mountain folks, but you also need to remember that the snow here doesn't melt. With an annual mean temp of 39.7°F in Detroit Lakes, the average January high temp is 15.8°F and the average low temp -6.3°F. That is an average of 180 days of the year below 32°F, and 58 days below 0°F.

Cold. Damn cold.

Who knows what the rest of the winter will bring us, but what I do know, as I was freezing my ass off snow blowing the driveway this afternoon, is that all this snow has made for some excellent snowmobiling conditions. I'll leave you with a few photos from my ride at Maplewood State Park yesterday.






Cheers!

- the roughfisher

Belle's bomber nymph

The old family cat was a wonderful source of dubbing. She was a brown tabby, and her hair was a cross between grey squirrel and hare, the perfect combination of underfur, awn hair, and guard hair. It made for some killer dubbing blends. She will be missed, but will continue to live on through my fly patterns.

I tied up a few nymphs this afternoon, variations of a hare's ear nymph pattern.






Tied on Daiichi 1120 2X strong scud hooks. Dark Brown 6/0 Uni thread, hare guard hairs tail, cat fur/crystal angelina dubbing blend body, gold Ultrawire rib, peacock glimmer chenille thorax, mylar wing case, 4mm gunmetal bead. The rubber legged version used clear and black speckled sili-legs.

The photos don't do this fly justice, as the pattern has an aura surrounding it, like a halo, from the angelina fibers in the dubbing. The flash is not overpowering, more subdued-like, but should be enough to get the attention of a fish without scaring it off. Should be pretty fun fishing this fly. Cheers!

skunked

Skunked.

I will need to avenge myself later this week. Fish, you've been warned.