Saturday, February 08, 2020

Winter Blahs, or Not?



I like winter. Really, I do. I like snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, and even a bit of winter catch and release stream fishing. But you get to a point during the winter where you wish that it was spring; that it was the second week of April when stream fishing season opens in Minnesota, or two weeks later in Wisconsin. I'm to that point right now. I even subscribed to "FishingTV.com" which is a good indication of how I am currently feeling. But watching other people fish online or playing fishing videogames just isn't the same as getting out there. I did get out briefly last Sunday on the Chequamegon National Forest, to 18 Mile and Porcupine Creeks, two of my favorite fishing streams. Unfortunately, I was hampered by a binding failure on my snowshoes that kept me from Reaching the pool I wanted to get to. I have a new Tiny Tenkara rod that I wanted to try out, but 3-foot deep snow and malfunctioning snowshoes are not a good combination. So I tried a few times with my Badger Tenkara UNC (for Un-Named Creek) rod just to say that I tried. I will try again after the Fat Bike Birkie in March.

Last summer I spent a lot of my fishing time on the Superior National Forest in northern Minnesota, partly because time was at a premium and I wanted to spend that time with my wife, and partly because the place that we usually stay on Chequamegon was being rebuilt. I don't know if we're getting too old for camping, or if we're just getting lazier in our old age, but we elected to motel it. (We did take the granddaughters and our daughter camping and fishing on Chequamegon for Independence Day weekend.) We're going to go back again this year, with at least one camping trip, a guided flyfishing trip, and hopefully, finally, after probably twenty years of trying, reaching an undisclosed interior trout lake north of Tofte.

I have recently reposted on my MNBackcountry1 Facebook page a number of articles about how young people, Gen X as they are referred to, fail to get outdoors even as much as people their age did ten or twenty years ago. One study even said that prisoners in jail get outside more often than teenagers in today's society. While I believe technology is partially to blame for this, there is also a certain amount of blame that has to be directed at parents and grandparents who don't encourage their children to get away from the screen out of the door. We have always tried to get our daughters and our grandchildren to take part in outdoor activities, largely successfully. Last summer my younger granddaughter got really, "hooked on fishing." This year she hopes to get a fishing team going at her high school. We had some great times over the summer at various lakes and streams around home and in Wisconsin. Even if it's just some sunfish or bluegills, it's still a successful day not just for the fishing, but for spending time with Sophie. Two summers ago, we hiked into an interior lake on the Superior Forest. We didn't catch any fish, but it was a fun time. Who knows? We may go back there this summer.

The point of this blog post is, yes it is winter. Yes, it is cold, although we've also certainly seen colder winters here in Minnesota. But we need to get outside, even in winter. We need to get moving and get away from the screens, unlike what I'm doing right now. If you have a young person in your family, take them with you. Discover winter! The undiscovered season.
I'm going to try and post more this year, but I also plan to spend more time outside. I hope I'll see you streamside!