Newsletter

The last few days have been cold, overcast and foggy with the occasional rain shower or stretch of drizzle. I have come home from my morning striper trip and started a fire in the woodstove to feel warm. In fact on my afternoon trip one afternoon I wore an insulated underwear top and was glad to have it on as the evening wore on. After a warm and dry month of May this is pretty hard to take, I'm sure that summer is here and the warm sunny days are not far off.

Striper Report!

Today our youngest son graduates from high school. This week has been filled with attending graduation events. Baccalaureate was on Sunday and our Project Graduation event will be all night following graduation. We have family visiting for the big event and it is certainly a busy time.

My season has been off to a great start. One of the best things about guiding is the great folks that I get to spend time with over the years. Often a trip is as much a chance to catch up with a friend as anything. I am truly fortunate for the great folks that I have as clients. Now to the fishing.

Here we are already four months through 2008; it seems like we just started the year. After an impressively snowy winter our spring has been warm and dry for almost three weeks. Yesterday was our first rainstorm in a while and it made up for the nice weather. We had a heavy rain with strong winds and every brook and stream was out of its banks. I am hoping to do some fly fishing for brown trout as soon as the water level falls back to normal again, but that will be a while.

Winter is definitely over now. I heard bluebirds singing this morning and yesterday I heard flickers for the first time since last summer. Our barred owls are back in the woodlot behind the house and calling "who, who, who cooks for you" in the evenings and early mornings. The weather has changed as well, there is still frost at night but the days are warm and sunny. The snow is almost completely melted and I noticed on Monday morning that the ice is almost completely out on Seven Tree and Round Ponds.

Slowly the snow is starting to recede, first the edges of the fields show through and then gradually I can see the areas of brown grow. Hopefully this slow melting trend continues with all of the snow here and further north the last thing we need is a rapid melt, the resulting flooding would be a big problem. The days are moderating and a sunny day is a real treat. The cold has really lost its bite even though many mornings are still below freezing.

We had lots of wind and a cold rain last weekend which has the snowbanks starting to shrink. There is even some bare ground here and there. Winter is not over for sure but the sun is strong and it wont be long now; even on the cold mornings the sun makes it feel warm if you are out of the wind. As I understand it this is the 5th snowiest winter on record and we still have a month or so to go yet. I also saw that Concord NH has set a record for the snowiest winter since they have been keeping track.

Today is one of those quiet days that are sometimes called weather breeders, still and quiet, clear as a bell with bright sunshine. The current official forecast would seem to confirm that call. We are scheduled to have another snowstorm Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday. Another in a steady string of snowstorms this winter. I love the snow, after all if it is going to be winter the ground may as well be white.
 

Our winter seems to have taken a turn for the worse. After a long snowy stretch of real winter. We seem to have gone into a pattern of warmer temperatures with storms that start as snow and change to sleet, then freezing rain and eventually all rain. The ground is still white in most places but I'm sure that won't last long with a couple of these messy storms this week. The groundhog saw his shadow so we have at least six more weeks to look forward to. Of course here that is normal as ice out will not be until mid April.

We are in what is usually the coldest part of our winter and it is just what we expect. This morning the temperature was a little below zero Fahrenheit without a cloud in the sky. Luckily the strong wind that was forecast has not shown up. Yes we have a breeze but not the wind that can make a cold day miserable. The moon was full last night which gives spectacular nights lit by the glow of the moonlight reflected off of the snow. It is nearly as bright as day but the light has a different quality.