Spring Broke

I booked a small cabin at Backbone State Park for seven nights at our spring break, planning to fish like mad with James for holdover fish in the stocker streams and wild browns in some protected ones.  All winter in eastern Iowa it’s been in the 40s, 50s, 60s and mostly snow free.  One day in February it was 73F.  I looked forward to this trip for months.  And so of course the Sunday that it kicked off saw a high below freezing and six inches of snow.  Daily highs stayed below freezing through midweek.  I could have screamed.  There didn’t seem much point sitting in a small cabin looking out at a frozen winter wonderland, so I cancelled the first three nights of the trip and we set out Wednesday.  The forecast was a bit better, but not great.  High in the 30s Thursday, high 40s Friday, 40 on Saturday, high 40s again on Sunday.  We tried fairly hard, kitted out in long thermal underwear and multiple layers of fleece, hoodies, nano puffs, and we more or less managed.  But the wind howled the entire time, gusting to 25 mph, it was cold, there weren’t many fish, and it was mostly an endurance trial.  Still, grim fishing is better than no fishing.

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