Hunches, Contrary Hope, and Implied Evidence of Inevitability

When I posted on December 16th about imminent ice fishing, I was right about this for the short term, getting out with Mike Maxwell to ice fish Budd Lake on the 21st, but I just did not have a hunch for the season ahead, as posts going back to 2011 have shown at least correlation between my hunches and what has turned out as fact. The obvious reason for my lack of awareness this year is too much job pressure, and yet, despite the dullness an indoor arrangement may drive against a mind, as if a knife edge is subjected repeatedly to hard rough walls without proper sharpening, I did feel a hunch develop and get confirmed by Laurie Murphy of Dows Boat Rentals at Lake Hopatcong a couple of weeks ago: forget it for the rest of this season. We may be mistaken, but we'll see. My hopes for an enduring arctic air mass dwindle as my daffodil pokes grow higher. I begin now to anticipate March and moderating temperatures, hoping to fly fish nymphs on a coming occasion, although I still harbor an ambition to do just this some future January in the cold and snow.

Those three days of teen temperatures overnight I recently mentioned I think in two posts begin tomorrow, so all the best to anyone who gets out and ice fishes a pond. If you happen to do this and read this post, by all means, leave a comment. I'd love to hear from you.

Laurie Murphy read my open letter to the Boat Commission Chair, and she thereafter told me the lake community is trying to work this out, instead of the Draconian measure of anchoring restrictions getting imposed on us. Please, let's hope this issue gets resolved rationally.