Winter Wonderland

Of course, within about a day and a half of my writing about what a great little banana belt we live in, Maupin got a dump of snow. It snowed all day Sunday and temperatures in the mid-twenties will keep that snow around for a bit. The roads leading in and out of Maupin are quite icy, but it is possible to get here from any direction.  

We got a few inches of light powdery snow, followed by a little freezing rain to get things nice and crunchy.. Freezing fog and cloudy weather is in the forecast for the next couple of days followed by more snow near the weekend. This will keep the crowds away, that's for sure! 

Come on out and see the Deschutes with a cozy white blanket on her. It is beautiful! It is a great time to look for animal tracks when you are walking from one fishing spot to the next. Do be careful on the edge of the river, it will be slick.

I am often asked about the best way to keep your hands warm on the river while fishing - and there are a lot of ways to do this, but here is what has worked best for me. Bring multiple sets of gloves/mittens. You are standing in water, you are handling line that is coming directly out of the water, there is no way that your gloves or mittens are not going to get wet under winter fishing conditions. If you reserve a dry set for when you just can't take it any longer, you will be happy that you did so. Use wool whenever possible, wool stays warm when wet. Add handwarmers to your pockets or to gloves to heat them up. These can be single-use handwarmers, rechargeable handwarmers, or the old Jon-E-handwarmer that looks like a large Zippo lighter. Walk a lot between runs to keep your blood pumping and to get your entire body warmed up.

Stay warm out there, folks!