Beat the Wintertime Blues

February 1, 2009 by admin

By Nick Simonson

It's the slow time of winter

What a tease this winter has been. Knowing full well we’re at least two months from open-water fishing, Ma Nature gives us days with highs above freezing, frequent melts and not much in the way of severe weather. She sure makes it feel like spring is just around the corner.

This is still North Dakota however, and despite the apparent global warming, winter can still drag on, especially during the early nights. So whether cabin fever is brought on by flirtations with spring, or simply the frustration that it isn’t the end of March yet, here are some activities to help you keep your sanity.

Surf’s Up

The internet is where real outdoorsmen go to trade photos and stories, compare tactics, and shoot the cyber-breeze with other anglers when they absolutely cannot be outdoors. It is a great way to get the feel for the future of the outdoors, to debate and learn more about various aspects of hunting and fishing. Do a Google search (www.google.com) for your favorite type of fishing, or for an area of hunting you would like to know more about, and visit some of the top sites. Get involved in a new online community or on an outdoors message board this winter. Expand your knowledge about various aspects of the outdoors, or take some time to look into new outdoors activities, such as birding or bow hunting.

Book Smart

Winters in North Dakota are like the first year of law school. In those first two semesters, one is assigned large textbooks to read through and learn the basics of the law. The last four semesters allow a student to apply those things learned in the first year to a courtroom setting, be it through mock trial or other hands-on classes.

This year, read up on some new walleye tactics, bass presentations, or other outdoors-related topics. When winter comes to an end, take those things you learned from the pages of a book and apply them to the waters around your area.

Some personal recommendations include the series of freshwater fishing handbooks published by In-Fisherman magazine. These paperbacks can usually be found for more than half off the cover price on sites like eBay (www.ebay.com) and Half.com (www.half.com). Furthermore, these books cover nearly every major species of freshwater fish, so whatever your distant spring quarry might be; there is ample ammunition available with the turn of a page.

A Touch of Flash

Lure making, is not nearly as hard as it seems. Through some basic fly-tying and some help from the Internet, it is possible to make all kinds of fish attracting lures. Perhaps one of the greatest advantages taken from this new passion is insight into improving standard freshwater lures.

Try tying some red bucktail to the back treble of that Rapala Floating Minnow. The addition of some crystal flash is a great way to turn standard 1/16-ounce jigs into some incredible crappie killers. Your imagination is only limited by the materials in existence so check out distributors such as Cabela’s (www.cabelas.com) and order up some attractive adjustors to help brighten up your springtime offerings.

Fantasy Island

If openwater fishing still seems too far off to you, get in on the excitement of fantasy bass fishing. ESPN and BASS bring the Bassmaster tournament trail to life this spring with their fantasy bass fishing league.

From the season-opening Bassmasters Classic on Florida’s Lake Tohopekaliga (say that three times fast), to the largemouth-filled waters of Arkansas’ Table Rock Lake, track your five anglers through the series of events leading up to this summer’s Bassmasters Classic. All it takes is a trip to the Fantasy BASS homepage (games.espn.go.com/basschallenge/bass/frontpage) and a quick registration and you’re in. Before you know it, you will be the one casting for bucketmouths and bronzebacks.

Scrap It

Finally, if you have lots of great memories and pictures from the hunting season or from summer fishing, put it all together in a scrapbook for the year. Stick a picture or two on each page and add a little story beside them. The books are inexpensive and provide a great way to preserve memories for years to come. Tape your licenses, trout stamps, and other memorabilia to the inside covers to show where you went. Add a few feathers from your pheasant or grouse hunts this fall to spruce the book up some and personalize it even more.

There’s always something to do that is related to the wild, no matter how long winter is…in our outdoors.