February 01, 2008 04:00 am When the north wind howls through the trees and across the ponds in mid- to late-January, it's usually quite cold. The snow blows in sort of a horizontal fashion, and an icy chill cuts through you, right to the bone. So, why would anyone want to be outside, exposed to those elements? Because as they say, "A bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work." Generally, that's the truth. To my friends Bob and Joe, it didn't make any difference this past Monday. They are both retired school teachers and just wanted to get out and have a bit of fun. So they ventured onto the southern end of Canadarago Lake to try their luck. I wondered if there was much ice on the lake. After all, it has been a rather strange winter. Neither fell through, so the ice was obviously sufficient enough to hold them. With the cold nights we've been having, the ice was about six inches thick. I don't like getting wet in the winter; it's bad enough in the spring. I remember a time years ago when I was fishing on Gilman Lake just north of Wells in the Adirondacks. I didn't have an ice auger, so I took my chainsaw to open a hole. The ice was more than a foot thick when I kicked a square chunk down beneath the surface, but there were a few inches of air space between the ice and the water. It was an extremely scary feeling as the ice creaked and moaned while settling under our feet. It held us, but we really wondered if it would. The fishing near Schuyler Lake wasn't very good for the guys. Bob used a Vexilar fish-finder and never marked a fish. That seems quite unusual for the lake because generally, there are lots of fish. Joe had a couple of hits, and another fisherman pulled up a couple of small perch and missed another. They were skeptical about the fishing as they drove up toward the lake that morning. According to a monthly table in the Outdoor News, fishing was going to be poor that day. It seems strange that someone can predict what days of the month will be good for fishing long before the magazine ever went to press, especially since meteorologists still can't accurately predict the weather 24 hours in advance. The barometer fell at the beginning of the week. Maybe that was the reason, but I always thought that a decreasing period of atmospheric pressure makes animals more active. Deer always feed just before a storm, so why not fish? Maybe it's different under water, or perhaps the moon was in the wrong phase or position. I have no idea, but they seemed to be right. In other areas of the state, the fishing has been a little better. I'm told that people are catching a lot of lakers and landlocked salmon on Lake George. I haven't heard any reports from Otsego Lake. Usually, if there's sufficient ice, there's a lot of activity off Three Mile Point. If you fish there, remember that the size and limits have been changed to avoid the over-fishing of the slower growing lake trout that are abundant deep in the lake. So dress warmly and give it a try. Maybe you'll have more luck than some of the other fellows I know, but at least they got out there to fish. Rick Brockway writes a weekly outdoors column for The Daily Star. E-mail him at robrockway@hotmail.com.
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