Gas and fishing

As usual gas prices have been climbing for the last couple weeks. $3.29 today. The fuel tank in my boat is almost full. Earlier todayI filled two, five gallon cans for my boat and a two and a half gallon can for my mowers, $39.00. Rumours of $5.00 a gallon gas are floating around. I'm going to go on the record now and coin the phrase "boat pooling". You know, similar to car pooling but in a boat. The gas prices will only affect my fishing in that I won't travel asfar from the house as I had planned. The Skunk is only five miles from here and that may be as far as I go. I was hoping to experiment on the Miss this year. Oh well, atleast they haven't outlawed lead sinkers yet. Oops!

Back into the freezer

After one day at almost seventy degrees, rain, a river that nearly came out of its banks and one fishermen with a boat load of whisker fish, we're back into the freezer. Mother nature won this round but the old bat surely doesn't have the energy to hold on for ever. Spring will get here whether she likes it or not. Keep the faith, stay strong, spring is coming!

It rained just a little last night. I'm a little nerveous that we are going to pick up where we left off last year. I'm really hoping this isn't the fourth year of torrential rain and floods. It kinda interferes with my fishing. Cross your fingers, pray or do whatever you feel like will give us some decent weather this year.

Heard that a couple guys caught one channel cat on shad gut at Oakland Mills. Would be difficult if not impossible to fish due to large amount of floating debris circling though out the tailrace.

Check out, luther.edu/eaglecam, They have a web cam focussed on an eagles nest, in a tree, over a fish hatchery. At times they will repair the nest, eat fish or just hang out.

Terry from southeast Iowa fishes the Mississippi and has had his boat on the river atleast once a month for the last thirteen months. He must surely be the hardest of the hardcore cat anglers in this area. He and his crew brave all that mother nature has to offer on a regular basis and it has paid off once again. On the river two days ago, Terry and a friend pulled twenty one catfish out of the thirty two degree Mississippi. The fish were located on a sand flat in direct sunlight and were caught on baby shad that were about a inch and a half long and shad gut.

Flooding

Southeast Iowa has it's first flood warning of the year. As is the case during late winter and early spring, some degree of flooding is expected, but we should keep our fingers crossed and hope that the flooding is minimal.
While we deal with what is left of this winter and the high water resulting from the melting snow and ice, wrap up the preventive maintenance and repairs of your gear so you'll be ready to hit the water when the catfish sart biting.

Sixty eight degrees. The Skunk River is rising for the first time in 2011. I guess that is the first step in being done with winter and bringing on spring. I'm ready although spring is still over a month away. The good news is that we don't have to wait until spring officially begins to catch out first catfish. I'm not sure when it might happen but we;re getting close.

The good news is that the snow and ice continues to melt and the bad news is it is raining on and off. I suppose we are going to pick up where we left off last year, with the bad weather. I don't think we need any rain right now as we already have water standing in the fields. I'm sure a lot of that water will disappear when the ground thaws, I think. I just remebered another bit of good news. We are one day closer to spring!