Met John at the outflow this evening around 6:30pm after taking my Trig final. That whole test sucked, I think I could have smeared crayon doodles of imaginary sea creatures caught in precarious sexually compromising situations on the other side of the paper and gotten a better score.

We geared up and talked about his last trip there which should have eluded me to the situation we were about to encounter. However, I was too preoccupied with the 20 degree temperature drop from this morning and my lack of long underwear.....

On our walk down we noticed the mud road had started to freeze a glazy ice-crust on the surface of once wet tractor tracks. It made for a clean walk at least, and before you knew it we were in the water and noticing the warm "dreck-juice" comforting us this chilly night.

I was batting 1000 this night as I hadn't even tied up yet and felt terrible making John wait for me as I tied up a 1/16th oz. Big Bite shakeyhead and a glow 2" twistertail. As we commenced our walk John commented on how much of the ice around the small island had recessed since his last visit. I thought this was a good sign for us as the less ice the better.

We worked our way downriver looking for a stray bite here and there under root-balls and in the seams of current breaks. John was throwing a floating rapala, and while my initial thought was "I would snag all day long with that thing", he didn't snag once, and I ruined 3 holes with lure retrievals from shoreline timber...

when we arrived at the predetermined pools above and below the flats, we separated to work our respective areas. I choose to move downstream to work the area between the flats and the downed tree, John stayed across current from the end of the island. After a few minutes of fumbling in the dark, I got the hang of working my tiny jig in the cold water. It was then that I heard a Moose trampling through the water next to me.

Well, it sounded like a moose, and in fact it was an ice sheet almost 4 inches thick the size of a Hum-V. It had broken free from somewhere and crashed into a nearby protruding rock at an alarming clip. It was at this point that what I like to call my "Dad" senses kicked in. I heard my Dad in my head telling me I was a damn fool for being out there in this situation. I had no choice but to make the call to abandon the water for safety's sake.

I walked up-river to John and let him know of my thoughts. He agreed, and even reminded me of the same situation he was faced with when he was there the other day. Hmm, he must have been explaining this to me earlier when my sack retreated to the warmth of my body cavity as we were gearing up.

So we headed back up the hill, unsuccessful, but thankful none-the-less. After all, John has some shopping to do before Sunday, and I had some filleting to do before Friday.

Special Ed wrote:I got the hang of working my tiny jig in the cold water.

That destroys more than just fishing trips.

Too bad John had a short night out with such a drive. But a living fisherman is better than a dead one. Almost a 40 degree day, that is a hard change to read.

The drive wasn't bad. As great of a spot that is, I'd drive the distance to fish it whenver I can. We may not have had any fish on the end of our lines, but it was still good to get out and walk the water. Ed definitely showed me the areas that would hold fish of all species. I actually wrote a blog about it last night. Thank you Ed for passing on the knowledgethat you've soaked up about this spot. Looking forward to Saturday. I can't wait to pull my first fish through the ice.

Nice write up Ed. Can't believe you convinced John that was a good idea.

I've never bothered fishing that stretch in the dark. Probably never will. Okay, one caveat, I've been at the source of all poop water before the sun and just after. But not down stream till light.

John, that stretch is good all winter. You may have a bad day and only get one, but the good days make up for it. Best time to be there is one of those dark gloomy low cloud days, about 35 degrees with a threat of that heavy snow. That water is so clear the darker the better, but not night.

You'll get the hang of it. Took me a year to get it all figured out. The furthest I've caught fish in the winter is about 100 yards downstream from the power lines. That warmer out flow water just keeps going. The lower the water, the further down you can still feel the warm water.

Once in North Aurora I got hit from behind by a big ice flow about 4 inches thick. Left a good bruise even through my 5mm neoprenes. The thing that is scary is that ice can cut like a knife. That would not be fun, especially once the sharks smell the blood.

Ken, don't you worry, I'm not giving up on any spot on the Fox that you guys talk about or show me around at. It was just like my trips up north into Wisconsin to hit the tribs for steelhead and trout. Went up there consistently for about 3 weeks, and had one good strike on the fly rod and one on the spinning gear. Just like the Fox, I'll keep fishing those spots as well. I'm hoping early xmas morning will be great weather to get away for a few hours on this stretch. I'll keep the fly rod in the case and bring the spinning gear.