FALL IS FINALLY HERE BY JOHN BERRY

As I was pulling my trash receptacle to the curb, before leaving the house, for my job at Blue Ribbon Fly Shop, I noticed that there was a heavy layer of frost, on my Suburban. I don’t know about you but one of my least favorite things to do is to scrape the frost off of my windshield. I am invariably am running late and this makes me even later. To make things worse, I didn’t have on gloves so that my hands were freezing by the time I got the windshield clear. Was fall finally here! It seems like it was eighty two degrees a couple of weeks ago. 

Fall had actually arrived a couple of days earlier. I had a guide trip scheduled and the forecast was for a cool start (about thirty four degrees) and a high temperature of fifty one degrees. The day was exacerbated by heavy winds. They were forecast to be five to ten miles per hour. It looked to be a cold day. 

I had discussed the weather forecast with my wife, Lori, the night before. She thought that it would be brutal and that as this was the first serious cold snap that we have had, I would not be accustomed to the cold and would be miserable. She suggested that I dress as warmly as I could. I decided to take her advice as it made a lot of sense to me. 

I wore a set of polypropylene long underwear (top and bottom), a heavy fleece lined fishing shirt, a pair of flannel lined khakis, heavy wool wading socks, and L. L. Bean low quarter hunting boots. I thought for a time on what jacket I should wear and finally settled on my warmest down jacket. A pair of fingerless wool gloves and a waterproof, insulated winter hat, with a long bill and Velcro secured ear flaps completed my ensemble. 

I picked up my clients at River Ridge Inn and drove to Rim Shoals. The skies were overcast and the wind was howling (fifteen to twenty miles per hour). That sent the wind chill plummeting. It was even colder than I had thought it would be. I took a few minutes to rig my client’s rods with a ruby midge below a hare and copper nymph. I added a BB split shot and a strike indicator. I noticed that they did not have gloves and loaned them my sun gloves. They were not as warm as my fingerless wool gloves but were better than nothing. 

I launched my boat and we began fishing. We were into trout almost immediately. The fish did not seem to care about the cold start. As the day went on, my feet began getting cold. I should have worn my other pair of L. L. Bean hunting boots that are insulated and much warmer. My fingers got a bit cold but I was able to warm them from time to time in my jacket pockets. It finally warmed up in the afternoon and I was fine. Despite the wind we were able to land well over thirty trout. 

We finally got some cold weather and did not let the temperature or the wind interfere with having a good time on the water. Life is good!