Karl's Kolumn

DID WINTER ARRIVE… nearly two months late? If this week’s snowstorm is any example, you betcha by golly! We had up to 18 inches of lake effect snow, high winds, freezing rain, bitter cold, with low temperatures hovering from 1-4 degrees, and did I mention 18 inches of snow. The icing on the cake has been closings from churches to schools, stores and restaurants. Up to then we didn’t have any snow or winter storms since early 2023. Hard to guess what this season might be; I did see a 33-degree temperature somewhere in next week’s forecast. Who knows, maybe the groundhog will forecast an early spring. My boat is ready!

MY BOAT IS READY… I got a text message about two weeks ago from my fishing buddy, Bob.

Hey pal, he wrote, there’s two guys fishing across from me (he lives on Paw Paw Lake). Were they catching anything? I didn’t see anything, he replied. Well, if you see them catching anything, call me. My boat is ready to go. The fishing weather was marginal, cold but not freezing. Windy, but not gale force.

Bob and I haven’t been on the water in November, since we helped a couple sailors right their catamaran, 6-7 years ago. The high winds that make sailing exciting, had flipped their sailboat over, dumping them into the cold water. We towed them to shallow water so they could right their boat and tie it up to their dock.

Most recently, the last time we went fishing was in early November 2023. I had prepped the boat for winter storage, but left my fishing tackle aboard, just in case. Every day or so I’d straighten up something else in the barn and wonder if I was wasting a fishing day. Now it’s the second week of January, and the first week of winter. I dumped three inches out of the rain gauge and put it away. Then I got out the snow shovels and put fresh gas in the snow blower, just in time for 10-18 inches over the weekend. There is no doubt the fishing season is over, except for ice fishing. For Bob and I at least, but we’ll be keeping an eye out for overturned sailboats and other stranded boaters. Weather permitting my boat is ready.