It’s been a long winter and the river’s still blown out.  At least I am cognizant there are others who feel the same way as me.

Guess I’ll fire up the kerosene heater in the garage and work on installing the fishfinder on my aluminum boat.  Maybe I’ll go crazy and open up the doors, pull out the lawnchairs, crack a Cow and really creep out the neighbors. Or maybe I’ll just come back inside reeking of kerosene, sit on the couch with my pale family, and flip through the channels looking for fishing shows from places like Belize where there’s fairy-tale blue water and people with sun-kissed skin and white teeth.

The wonderful weather of April continues…with a very recent iceout on area lakes, it would have been nice to spend today visiting one.  But instead it’s cold, rainy, and well, ducky.

The neighborhood ducks came by to visit my plastic decoys:

Where I would like to be in a couple of weeks (actually, I’d like to be there right now, but I’m being realistic since the doors are still probably frozen shut on the place I store my boat).

Via Greg Johnson’s Thinking Outside Blog:

The Fish that Got Away

The Ice Fishing Challenge in Alexandria, MN had 2200 anglers competing this year and not a single person caught a fish.  Had anyone caught a fish of any kind, it would have been worth $10,000.  I’m always amazed at occurrences like this, but there have also been bass and walleye tournaments that failed to turn a fish in more than four hours of fishing, as well.

At least no one has to have a sense of inferiority or failure.  When 2200 people get skunked that’s just a story to tell to your grandchildren.

What do you do with the huge amounts of snow in your yard this year if you live in North Dakota? Build a quinzee.

What the heck is a quinzee?  Read on in the article from the Dickinson Press (this is where I learned about them):

Winter Fun: Family Builds a Quinzee

There is also a pretty good article online at Boy’s Life magazine that describes the process:

How to Build a Quinzee Snow Shelter

Happy snow construction!  

Somewhere in my Internet travels in the last few days, I came across the nugget of information that weather prognostication by animals (a la Punxsatawney Phil) is a tradition that came from Germany. And in Europe, they didn’t have groundhogs, so they used badgers.  How they used them remains the compelling question.

Having seen the myriad of pictures of people holding up Phil the Groundhog, I shudder to think of what might happen if someone tried that with a badger.  I think the Americans who chose groundhogs for Groundhog Day chose a slightly more affable animal. 

Happy Groundhog Day!

With more crappy wintry weather on the way, and a major dip in temperatures from the almost-tolerable weather we have been having for the last few days, I think I’ll be staying inside this weekend.  Since it’s been a while since I have offered my recommendations on improving one’s cultural sensibilities, here’s my list of what I’ll be reading on the web:

Catch Magazine: a very good combination of gorgeous photography and solid essays that will take you all over the world.  Recommended: the Sept. 2010 issue with its pieces on Casting Croatia and a photo essay of skins and fins.

This Is Fly: a hip, modern fly fishing mag for the non-Filson crowd.  With pieces on everything from urban fly fishing to exotic locales, the photography is fresh and so is the prose.  Recommended: the most recent issue.  They seem to just get better and better.

And for a trip around the roulette wheel of blogs, I always have to check in at the Trout Underground, Moldy Chum, and Buster Wants to Fish.  Whether it’s discussions of felt sole replacements, pictures of hotties in waders, or ruminations on the season of seasons, they’re always up to the challenge of entertaining me.

Recent events such as the dead birds falling from the sky in various parts of the country, fish die-offs, etc. have some speculating that the cause is cold weather (although there are many other more entertaining theories). Mash up those events with the researchers working on wooly mammoth cloning (yes, they actually think they can produce an animal from an extinct species by using frozen DNA), and I think we’re getting ready for an ice age! Silly Al Gore–we’re not experiencing global warming. I’m putting my Vexilar jacket and bibs on and going ice fishing. I might have to stop at Fleet Farm and buy some auger extensions, though.

Having once before presented attractive and humorous weather spokespeople from all over the world, I present my latest find, Jim Kosek, of Accuweather.com, presented by the always entertaining and vivacious Megyn Kelly of Fox News:  

And another example from Round 2 of “Snowmageddon.” Evidently, people in the eastern United States are having even more fun with snow than those of us in North Dakota.

The ball dropped a little bit early on us in southeastern North Dakota overnight. We’re cleaning up from Phase I. Phase II is coming this afternoon, bringing subzero weather and another 6-12″ of snow on top of what got dumped/drifted last night.

My leisurely 35 mph drive this morning on Highway 75 between Breckenridge, MN and Wolverton, MN. There were a few pillow drifts nearly the size of my pickup.

I came upon a truck that had slid from the roadway and was receiving assistance from a sheriff’s deputy:

This is what I got to do when I got home:

I know–New Year’s Eve should be a time of reflection and celebration and positivity. Maybe when the tons of snow are all moved and I’m inside with a hot toddy on New Year’s Day, I’ll make some resolutions and look ahead.  Hey, it can only get better!