Saturday, February 4, 2012

Fornicating on a bridge

I thought I heard Barry White on the wind
One would think that spring is in the air, but it's not.

Sure it's warmer than most early February days but it's nowhere near spring. Last week, Ann came in and mentioned that there were bugs in the air but I was too busy on conference calls to cut away.

This afternoon I was standing by a stream and saw bugs in the air - clearly a cloud of midges taking advantage of the sunny, winter afternoon - with an occasional careening fly of some sort. I thought it was some random caddis out on a lark, I was wrong.

As we walked back across the bridge Ann and Chris pointed out stoneflies on the railing of a bridge. I'm not sure which of them saw it first, but there was some serious stonefly love on that bridge.

Little Black Stoneflies crawling on stark, white snow is one of the late winter signals that the dismal weather will soon end. It's something I look for each season around this time. Unfortunately, there's been no snow to speak of this year; no black on white.

Later, Chris and I walked a small river. I took a rod along. I did some prospecting on a stream that floods had made unfamiliar. No sign of any fish. Chris found three golf balls embedded in the sand of the flood plain. Strange finds far from where golf balls normally roam.

The water temperature was forty-two degrees, a bit on the cool side for trout to be looking up. I wasn't expecting much but I was hoping that those stoneflies roaming about would have made a cold, hungry trout move a bit for a snack. No such luck.

I lost two flies - a Bomber and a BH Hares Ear - to a streamside bush. The light was moving on and Chris was cool in his sweatshirt. At least he had agreed to wear a knit cap. We headed back to the car.

Those afternoon stoneflies have raised some hope. I would have preferred to see them crawling across the snow but stoneflies alone are a good sign. They're the first bug of the season. A season that now seems a whole lot closer.



9 comments:

  1. Careful.It's early Feb. Daffodils are at 3" in the yard, but it can't be spring yet; the stocking truck's at least a month away, and the Forsythia's still tight.

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    1. Dang, Daffodils?! That's just wrong. Up here in the mountains (all of 800 feet above sea level) the ground is still frozen solid. Peepers are far off.

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    2. March 17 last year, the 16th the year before. Not long now!

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  2. We got hammered with about 2 feet of snow over the past day and a half in Colorado. I think Spring is still a few bends around the road, but I'll dream along with you.

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    1. You mountain folk are hardy. A glass of scotch. A fire in the hearth. Dreaming of rising pods of trout.

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  3. Hey Steve. Don't be surprised by the golf balls. I have a window sill full of them along with all the other "stuff" I find. The latest was a chartreuse tennis ball.

    Mark

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    1. I get the tennis ball, it floats so it'll wander about. The only thing I can figure is once upon a time the field a short distance away, that's now full of small trees and high grass, was open and golfable.

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  4. This was such an interesting read Steve! First bugs of the season huh... here comes Spring!

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    1. There is hope. I'm in Atlanta this week. Starting to feel like Spring down here.

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